S^.^^'s 


if^^.i 


^         LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the 
Mrs.   Robert  Lenox  Kennedy  Church  History  Fund. 

BV  125  .L45  1900 

Lewis,  Abram  Herbert,  1836 

1908. 
Swift  decadence  of  Sunday, 

what  next? 


7 


<" 


■^^:iif 


^i'"'7^ii^h^  ^^t^^\,   )*^''7^^'F^    -i^.cwx^   .1.^^  '■    ^ 


% 


.^'. 


^^-m^^m^^M 


cij^ 


^^0- 


KiAre- 1926 
SWIFT  DECADENCE  OFV^)^DAY^,^ 

WHAT    NEXT? 


BY 

ABRAM  HEBBERT'LEWIS,  D.  D. 


/ 


Author  of  "Biblical  Teachings  Concerning  the  Sabbath  and  the  Sun- 
day,"   "A  Critical  History  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  Sunday 
in  the  Christian  Church,"    "  Critical  History  of  Sun- 
day Legislation,"     "Paganism  Surviving  in 
Christianity,"    Etc.,    Etc. 


SECOND  EDITION,  REVISED. 


American  Sabbath  Tract  Society, 

Plainlield,  N.  J. 

1900. 


Copyright,  1899. 
B3-  The  American  Sabbath  Tract  Society. 


PREFACE  TO   SECOND   EDITION. 

The  first  edition  of  this  book  appeared  about  the 
first  of  June,  1899.  The  reception  given  to  it  is 
abundant  reason  for  the  second  edition.  The  testi- 
mony given  in  the  following  pages  has  compelled  the 
attention  of  thoughtful  men,  in  spite  of  popular 
indifference.  The  character  of  the  witnesses  places 
the  facts  beyond  question.  The  testimony  shows 
that  decadence  of  regard  for  Sunday  is  universal, 
and  that  it  is  specially  marked  in  the  home  of  Puri- 
tanic Protestantism,  and  among  Protestants  gener- 
ally. This  testimony,  from  the  leaders  in  religious 
circles,  rather  than  from  secular  sources,  makes  it 
doubly  valuable. 

All  too  slowly,  but  yet  surely,  men  begin  to  see 
that  this  decadence  is  neither  temporar3^  nor  super- 
ficial. It  marks  the  decay  of  foundations  and  of  fun- 
damental truth.  It  is  much  more  than  the  decay  of 
local  or  denominational  peculiarities.  It  is  the 
definite  decay  of  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  Protest- 
antism and  of  pre-Catholic  Christianity.  It  assails 
the  integrity  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  their 
perpetuity.  It  threatens  the  continuance  of  public 
worship,  and  of  religious  culture.  Involving  these, 
it  attacks  the  foundations  on  which  social  progress 
and  permanent  national  life  rest. 

Men  who  hold  the  Sabbath  question  as  of  little 


11  PREFACE. 

account,  from  a  Biblical  or  theological  standpoint, 
cannot  turn  lightly  from  this  deca^^  of  conscience 
concerning  God's  authority  and  this  denial  that 
sacred  time  continues  under  the  gospel.  Discarding 
theories  in  the  abstract  does  not  prevent  their 
results  ;  at  length  men  must  accept  Christ's  standard 
of  measuring  theories  as  well  as  men.  "  By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

The  swiftness  with  which  this  decadence  has 
come,  and  the  strength  of  the  forces  which  are  impel- 
ling it  forward,  are  compelling  men  to  a  reconsidera- 
tion of  the  whole  Sabbath  question.  Since  the  Puri- 
tan Period  in  England,  when  true  Sabbath  Reform 
was  checked  b^^  the  compromise  which  attempted  to 
transfer  the  Fourth  Commandment  to  Sunday  and 
to  build  a  Levitical  system  in  connection  with  that 
da^^,  few  men  have  studied  the  Sabbath  question 
carefully.  In  America,  the  main  conception  of  Sab- 
bath Reform  has  been  to  save  the  American  Sunday 
from  being  reduced  to  the  holidayism  which  charac- 
terizes the  Continental  Sunday.  There  has  been  lit- 
tle recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  Puritan  theory 
was  a  weak  compromise,  which  removed  the  question 
but  one  step  from  the  Catholic,  Continental  platform, 
which  platform  was  less  than  a  step  from  the  original 
Pagan  Sunday.  The  now  prevalent  decay  of  the  Puri- 
tan theory,  and  the  corresponding  rise  of  the  Conti- 
nental theory,  are  compelling  inquiry  as  to  the 
foundation  of  both,  and  of  its  relation  to  the  true 
Sabbath,  seen  in  the  light  of  the  Bible  and  the  exam- 
ple of  Christ.    Indifference  and  prejudice  are  contest- 


PREFACE.  Ill 

ing  the  ground,  inch  b^^  inch,  but  the  dtraj  will  not 
cease,  and  it  will  force  itself  upon  the  attention  of 
men. 

We  subjoin  a  few  additional  testimonials  which 
have  appeared  during  1899.  If  all  such  testimonies 
were  gathered,  another  volume  would  take  the  place 
of  this  preface. 

Reviewing  the  efforts  made  to  check  the  decline 
of  regard  for  Sunday  in  Massachusetts,  the  Defender, 
January,  1899,  says : 

"  That  a  marked  change  has  come  in  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Lord's-daA^  in  New  England  during  the 
past  forty  years  is  strikingh^  manifest. 

"  The  mammon-serving  causes  that  affect  many 
members  of  our  churches,  are  not  difficult  to  trace. 
And  still  the  baneful  leaven  works !  An  alarming 
per  cent  of  our  population  ignores  the  sanctity- of  the 
dav  that  has  become  to  so  many  a  labor  da\'  or  a 
holiday. 

"  Multitudes  of  our^^oung  people  are  growing  up 
in  the  midst  of  secularization  and  desecration,  and 
know  no  Sabbath. 

"  Protests  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  in 
the  past  against  the  increasing  and  insidious  abuse 
of  the  Lord's-day.  But  little  that  was  effective  has 
been  done  till  recent  years." 

The  New  York  correspondent  of  the  Standard, 
March  11,  1899,  speaking  of  social  life  on  Sunday  in 
that  city,  said : 

''This  abuse  has  been  going  on  in  the  city  for 
some  time,  and  it  is  said  that  some  churches,  partic- 


IV  PREFACE. 

ularly  of  the  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  denomina- 
tions, have  suffered  ver3^much  in  their  afternoon  and 
evening  services,  on  account  of  the  growth  of  this 
practice.  It  takes  the  form  of  receptions  in  the  even- 
ing and  private  dinner  parties,  which  are  given  by 
church  members,  and  occasionally  of  a  high-class 
musical.  There  is  a  regular  musical  held  at  the 
Waldorf-Astoria  Hotel  Sunday  afternoons,  and  this 
is  attended  by  quite  a  number  of  the  church  people, 
mostly  Episcopalians.  The  late  Dr.  John  Hall  called 
attention  to  the  same  state  of  affairs,  and 
others  have  noticed  it.  It  is  only  one  of  many 
forms  of  religious  indifference,  against  which  min- 
isters and  spiritually -minded  church-members  have 
to  contend  in  this  great  city.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  professed  Christians  whose  whole  religious 
activity  consists  in  keeping  waim  a  church  cushion 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  Sunday  forenoon.  The  rest 
of  the  da}'  is  given  to  personal  purposes  and  pleas- 
ure, and  the  mid-week  service  shares  the  same  fate 
as  the  Sunday  evening  service.  There  has  been  a 
decided  growth  of  this  Continental  idea  of  Sunday 
performance,  which  holds  that  half  the  day  must  be 
devoted  to  the  formalism  of  religious  worship,  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  week  belongs  to  business  and  rec- 
reation. There  is  no  doubt  that  all  churches  suffer 
more  or  less  from  this  cause." 

At  the  109th  Annual  Episcopal  Convention  of  the 
state  of  Rhode  Island,  June  15,  1899,  Bishop-Coad- 
jutor McVicar  made  an  address,  in  which  two 
sources   of   danger    to   society  and   to   Christianitv 


PREFACE. 


were  sharply  outlined.  These  were  "  Growing  laxity 
in  social  morality,"  and  "Sunday-observance." 
Having  spoken  with  power  on  the  social  question, 
as  reported  in  the  Providence  Journal  for  June  14. 
the  Bishop  said  as  follows : 

"Another  matter,  which  in  its  way,  I  believe,  is 
as  fundamental  and  as  important  as  this  last,  is 
that  of  Sunday  and  its  proper  observance.  I  know 
the  difficulties  which  surround  the  subject.  I  know 
how  widely  men  differ  in  their  views.  But  I  believe 
that  no  earnest,  thoughtful  Christian  can  observe 
the  drift  and  tendency  of  the  time  without  the  most 
anxious  apprehension  as  to  results  in  the  growing 
non-observance  of  this  holy  day.  That  there  is  this 
drift  there  can  be  no  doubt.  And  the  saddest  thing 
about  it  again  is  that  this  drift  is  not  confined  to 
the  world  about  us,  but  is  as  marked,  nay,  one  may 
almost  say,  more  marked,  within  the  Christian 
church  itself.  The  tendency  to  curtail  the  time 
devoted  to  God's  worship,  to  compromise  on  a 
single  service  and  even  that  of  shortest  and  most 
meagre  character  and  that  but  intermittently,  while 
the  rest  of  the  day  is  given  over  to  self-indulgence 
and  festivity,  suggests  an  awful  contrast  with  the 
quiet  and  happy  Sundays  of  our  childhood's  memo- 
ries, with  their  precious  opportunities  for  spiritual 
growth  and  the  cultivation  of  the  cognate  graces  of 
family  life." 

In  Christian  Work,  for  August  24,  1899,  a  corre- 
spondent writes  under  head  of  "The  Lord's-day," 
detailing  the  "startling  evidence  of  the  decadence  of 


VI  PREFACE. 

*  keeping  Sunday' on  the  part  of  professing  Chris- 
tians," of  which  decadence  he  says:  "It  is  greater 
than  w^ould  seem  possible;"  and,  continuing: 

"  But  it  has  been  a  surprise  to  me,  while  visiting 
in  one  of  our  old  college  towns  and  distinctly  relig- 
ious communities,  to  see  what  Sunday  golf-playing 
has  come  to  mean ! 

"Parents  and  3'^oung  people  who  two  hours 
before  had  come  home  from  God's  house,  and  even 
from  the  sacrament  table,  set  out  regularly  on  Sun- 
day afternoon,  by  cab,  wheel  or  on  foot,  to  the  golf- 
links  !  And  this  going  "  onl}^  to  play  a  quiet  game 
of  golf  on  Sunday  afternoon  "  means  staying  to  sup- 
per at  the  golf  house,  with  the  promiscuous  com- 
pany and  conditions  of  such  a  gathering.  Is  it  to  be 
wondered  at  that  those  who  do  not  claim  to  be 
Christians — as  in  the  instance  of  a  young  girl  of  this 
same  circle,  a  girl  of  noble  womanhood  but  of  no 
religious  teaching  in  faith  or  purpose,  and  who  takes 
unhesitatingly  all  of  Sunday  for  golf,  bicycling  and 
all  self-pleasing — should  reply,  when  it  was  suggested 
to  her  that  "  Sunday  is  the  Lord's-day":  "Why,  I 
do  not  see  why  any  one  is  happier  or  better  who  is  a 

*  Christian,'  as  you  say,  or  who  keeps  Sunday;  the 
same  people  who  go  to  church  for  a  little  while  in 
the  morning  do  just  as  I  do,  who  am  not  religious 
at  all,  the  rest  of  the  day !  " 

So  the  evil  grows,  and  the  ruin  becomes  more  ruin- 
ous. A  generation  of  golf  players  on  Sunday  is  death 
to  Sabbath  Reform  in  connection  with  Sunday  in  the 
next  century. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

rpHIS  book  is  written  for  the  sake  of  massing  facts. 
Facts  are  God's  commentary  on  theories,  prac- 
tices and  institutions.  They  form  the  only  safe  basis 
for  conclusions.  What  has  been  is  the  true  indicator 
of  what  must  be.  The  future  is  the  fulfillment  of  the 
past  and  the  expansion  of  the  present.  Yesterday, 
to-day  and  to-morrow  form  the  eternal  now.  The 
error  of  3'esterday  points  out  the  truth  of  to-day. 
The  incomplete  conception  of  to-day  leads  to  the  bet- 
ter conception  of  to-morrow. 

He  who  does  not  heed  these  truths  must  fail. 
Error,  persisted  in  when  light  appears,  becomes  sin. 
God  and  truth  are  the  eternal  facts.  Ignoring  does 
not  change  them.  Denial  does  not  remove  them. 
Evasion  and  compromise  do  not  escape  them.  Be- 
cause men  do  not  heed  these  great  principles,  reform 
must  often  come  by  fierce  reaction.  Men  cling  to  er- 
ror and  misconception  until  they  decay,  in  hand. 
Men  are  driven  back  to  right  paths  with  bruised  and 
thorn-torn  feet,  because  they  pass  God's  guide- 
boards,  heedlessh'.  The  stor3^  of  the  Prodigal  has  a 
wide  application  among  good  people  in  the  matters 
of  reform . 

The  present  state  of  the  Sabbath  question  must 
be  studied  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing  axioms.  Three 
hundred  years  ago  Puritanism  came  near  returning 


11  INTRODUCTORY. 

to  the  true  Bible  Sabbath,  tinder  the  lead  of  the  Eng- 
lish Seventh-da3^  Baptists.  It  came  more  than  half- 
way, considering  the  Roman  Catholic  position  and 
the  Seventh-day  Baptist  position  as  the  two  ex- 
tremes. It  stopped  short,  by  compromise,  and  Sun- 
day was  invested  with  the  name  and  general  charac- 
ter of  the  Sabbath.  Previous  to  that  time  it  had 
never  been  more  than  an  ecclesiastical  and  semi-re- 
ligious rest  day.  That  compromise  has  spent  its 
force.  Reaction  against  it  has  come.  Sunday  has 
gone  back  to  its  former  t3^pe  by  unavoidable  gravita- 
tion. The  worst  elements  of  modern  civilization 
have  gained  a  giant's  grasp  upon  it  as  a  day  of 
leisure,  through  the  saloon,  the  gambling-house  and 
brothel.  Change  of  opinion  and  decay  of  conscien- 
tious regard  for  it  as  a  sacred  day  are  every  where  ap- 
parent, even  among  Christians.  The  testimony  of 
its  friends  fills  the  first  half  of  this  book. 

Reconsideration  of  the  whole  Sabbath  question  is 
at  hand.  Readjustment  is  going  forward  rapidly. 
Up  to  date  this  readjustment  is  in  favor  of  holiday- 
ism  and  evil.  Worse  results  impend.  The  issues  can- 
not be  waived  aside  nor  escaped.  To  be  indifferent  to 
them  approaches  criminality.  He  is  weak  and  frivol- 
ous who  sneers  at  them.  He  is  foolish  who  neglects 
to  consider  them.  He  is  an  empty  braggart  who 
says  that  he  knows  all  about  them  without  study. 
These  pages  are  for  all  men,  but  most  for  God-loving 
and  God-fearing  men.  Truth  appeals  to  them  first. 
With  them,  if  anywhere,  it  must  find  acceptance  and 
home.      For    them,   and   for    the    truth   which    has 


INTRODUCTORY.  Ill 

the  right  to  gain  a  hearing  from  them,  we  have 
written. 

The  Sabbath  question  includes  both  the  Sabbath 
and  the  Sunday.  Three  great  periods  in  the  history  of 
this  question  are  alread^^  passed.  The  first  reaches 
from  Christ  and  the  New  Testament  church  to  the  full 
establishment  of  the  Roman  Catholic  supremacy — 
five  hundred  years  in  round  numbers.  The  second  is 
theperiod  of  Roman  Catholic  supreniac3' :  a  thousand 
3-ears.  The  third  is  the  Puntan  period,  covering  the 
last  three  hundred  years.  This  period  is  brief  as  to 
time,  and  correspondingly  limited  in  extent.  The 
characteristics  of  each  period  are  discussed  in  the 
chapters  on  "  Why  Sunda\^  Has  Decaj^ed."  Outside 
of  Puritanism,  the  Protestant  conception  of  the  Sab- 
bath question  did  not  depart,  radically,  from  the 
Roman  Catholic  conception.  The  Puritan  Sunday 
forms  a  small  island  in  the  stream  of  Christian  his- 
tor\\  The  currents  of  the  Roman  Catholic  theory 
have  continued  to  flow  under  and  around  this  island 
of  the  Puritan  Sunda\^  and  it  is  being  rapidly  swept 
away. 

Our  first  purpose  was  to  detail  the  decline  of  Sun- 
day lor  the  last  thirty  3'ears.  But  the  mass  of  tes- 
timony is  so  great  that  it  would  surpass  the  space 
allotted  to  this  book.  We  have  therefore  decided  to 
trace  this  decline  since  1882.  Before  he  is  done  with 
the  testimony,  the  student  will  see  how  deeply  the 
question  reaches  in  its  bearings  on  the  issues  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  and  how  the  popular 
drift  and  the  decay  of  the  Puritan  view  have  already 


lY  INTRODUCTORY. 

landed  Puritan  Protestants  in  the  Catholic  fold,  logi- 
cally, if  not  actually. 

The  Roman  Catholic  theory,  that  Sunday  is  an 
institution  of  the  state-church  has  been  the  prevail- 
ing idea  ever  since  Sunday  became  established  as  a 
Christian  institution.  Although  the  Puritans  re- 
tained the  same  day,  the  basis  on  which  it  rested  and 
the  manner  of  its  observance  formed  a  fundamental 
point  of  difference  between  the  Catholic  and  the  Puri- 
tan. In  the  ultimate  issue,  either  logical  or  Script- 
ural, Sabbath  Reform  involves  a  second  stage  in  the 
Protestant  movement.  It  will  help  to  gain  a  correct 
view  of  the  situation  if  we  follow  the  course  of  the 
change  of  opinions,  and  the  progress  of  the  deca3^  of 
regard  for  Sunda}'-,  along  the  lines  of  those  Protest- 
ant denominations  which  have  been  most  identified 
with  the  Puritan  idea.  Since  the  Puritan  Sunday 
was  born  in  the  Scotch-English  Reformation,  it  is  of 
vital  moment  to  those  denominations  of  Protestants 
into  whose  creeds  it  first  found  entrance.  The  decay 
which  is  already  so  far  advanced  compels  a  readjust- 
ment of  the  whole  Sabbath  question  in  these  denom- 
inations. The  case  was  terseh^  stated  to  the  writer 
a  little  time  since  by  a  Paulist  Father  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.  Speaking  in  a  pleasant  way  of  the  fact  that 
he  and  the  writer  occupied  extremes  in  theology,  he 
said:  "There  is  nothing  for  Protestants  to  do  but 
come  to  us,  or  go  to  you ;  we  think  we  shall  get  them 
first.'"  He  was  right.  The  Seventh-day  Baptist 
position  or  the  Catholic  position  must  be  chosen,  un- 
less Protestants  prefer  to  adopt  the  full  antinomian 


INTRODUCTORY.  V 

falsehood,  which  is  theological  anarchy.  Presby- 
terians, Congregationalists,  Baptists  and  Methodists 
are  the  Protestants  whose  creeds  identify  them  most 
closely  with  the  Puritan  Sunda3\  Testimony  from 
representative  men  belonging  to  these  bodies  crowds 
the  following  pages. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

I.— Baptist  Testimony,           .              .               .  .               i 

II.— Methodist  Testimony,            -              -               -  -      i5 

III.— Testimony  from  Congregational  Sources,  -             25 

IV. — Testimony  from  Presbyterian  Sources,       -  -      57 

V. — Testimony  from  Episcopalian  Sources,  -             93 

VI.— Christians   are  Responsible  for  the  Decay  of  Re- 
gard for  Sunday,  -  -  -  -    106 

VII. — Christians  are  Responsible  for  the  Decay   of  Re- 
gard FOR  Sunday — Conlimied,  -  -  118 

VIII.— Christians  Neglect  the  Defense  of  Sunday,  -    137 

IX. — Roman  Catholics  and  Sunday,                  -               -  151 

X. — Why  Sunday  has  Decayed,  -               -              -  -    163 

XI.— Why  the  Puritan  Sunday  has  Decayed,              -  176 

XII.— Why    Protestants    Cannot    Arrest    the    Decay    of 

Sunday,  .  .  .  .  .    184 

XIII. — How  Can  Sabbath  Reform  be  Attained  ?  -  194 

Newspapers  Quoted,  ....    209 

Index,       ------  211 


DECADENCE  OF  SUNDAY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BAPTIST    TESTIMONY. 

Relation  of  Baptists  to  Sabbath  Question — The  Standard  on  Sunday  in 
New  England — The  Exaniiner  on  Sunday  opening  of  libraries — 
Dr.  McArthur  on  foreign  influence — The  Waich  Tower — The 
Christian  Secretary — Illegal  Sunday  trains — Disagreement  among 
Baptists — The  E:vaniiner  on  the  "Eclipse  of  Sunday  " — Notable 
Baptist  satire — Decay  in  Vermont — Baptist  congress  surrenders 
Sunday  to  tradition — Dr.  W.  W.  Evarts  on  "  Violations  of  the  Sab- 
bath." 

TN  editorial  files  and  note-books  \ve  have  a  record 
of  the  testimon^^  of  the  friends  of  Sunday'  touch- 
ing its  decay,  from  1865  until  now.  For  the  first 
twenty  years  of  that  time,  the  testimony  is  confined 
to  a  few  papers,  which,  more  observant  than  the 
many,  saw  a  drift  that  had  been  accelerated  by  the 
Civil  War.  During  the  last  twelve  years  the  evidence 
of  coming  decline  has  been  so  apparent  that  testi- 
mony has  been  increased  many  times.  Within  the 
past  twelve  months  open  announcements  of  the 
hopeless  ''Loss  of  Sunda^^"  in  the  sea  of  holida^-ism, 
have  been  numerous  and  sad. 

Each  of  the  Protestant  denominations  has  a 
certain  relation  to  the  SundaA^  question.  Logically 
and  theoretically,  all  Baptists  are  bound  to  keep  the 
seventh  day,  and  not  the  first.     Their  professed  ad- 


2  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

herence  to  the  Bible  as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and 
practice  demands  this.  The  Seventh-day  Baptists 
and  the  Seventh-day  Adventists  are  the  only  ones  of 
the  Baptist  family  that  are  thus  true  to  their  creed. 
The  history  of  the  Baptists  as  related  to  freedom  of 
conscience,  and  to  the  question  of  religious  liberty, 
naturally  leads  them  to  a  deep  interest  in  the  Sun- 
dav  question.  Beginning  with  1882,  we  shall  place 
before  the  reader  a  line  of  testimony  from  Baptist 
sources  concerning  the  decadence  of  Sunday. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  which  meets  the  investi- 
gator at  the  outset,  that  New  England,  home  of 
Puritanism  and  of  the  Puritan  Sunday,  is  well  at 
the  front  in  the  matter  of  holidayism.  A  correspond- 
ent of  the  Standard,  w^riting  from  Boston  in  1882, 
declared  that  although  they  had  prided  themselves, 
hitherto,  upon  the  Puritan  Sunday  and  their  observ- 
ance of  it,  they  were  in  great  danger  of  losing  that 
pre-eminence.  The  watering  places  w^ere  thronged 
on  Sunday.  Trains  and  boats  w^ere  crowded  with 
pleasure-seekers.  One  who  had  just  visited  Lynn 
found  the  desecration  of  Sunday  there  greater  than 
in  Paris,  or  in  Italy.  Much  of  the  responsibility  for 
the  state  of  things  was  charged  to  Christians.  The 
correspondent  said  that  Boston  Christians  cheated 
the  Lord  by  going  on  long  excursions  for  pleasure 
on  Sunday,  starting  a  little  before  Sunday  and  re- 
turning so  as  to  reach  home  on  Monday.  In  short, 
Sunda}',  in  and  about  Boston,  was  described  as  the 
counterpart  of  the  much-condemned  Continental 
Sunday  of  Europe. 


BAPTIST   TESTIMONY 


During  the  same  3'ear  the  Standard,  discussing 
the  lack  of  regard  for  Sunday,  represented  Christians 
and  Christian  influences  as  powerless  to  check  the 
downward  course;  they  could  not  make  the  laws 
nor  control  the  railroads ;  they  could  not  stop 
the  tide  of  Sabbathless  immigrants  from  Europe, 
*' w^hich  breaks  upon  the  Eastern  sea-coast  and  rolls 
to  the  Western."  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  dis- 
regard for  Sunda\'  is  as  great,  and  comparatively 
greater,  among  the  home-born  people  of  the  United 
States  as  it  is  among  foreigners,  it  is  a  weak  evasion 
to  lay  the  blame  at  the  door  of  Europeans.  The 
decay  now  at  hand  is  that  of  American  Puritanism. 
It  is  not  the  fruitage  of  the  Old  World,  except  as  the 
Sunda^^  of  Europe  is  the  result  of  theories  which  are 
now  popular  in  America. 

In  the  same  year  the  Examiner  wrote  against 
the  opening  of  libraries  and  museums  on  Sunday-, 
and  plead  that  Sunday  could  be  saved  from  total 
deca3%  as  to  work  and  business,  onlv  "b\'  stouth- 
resisting  every  attempt  to  enlarge  it."  But  instead 
of  basing  its  plea  on  the  Bible,  the  law  of  God,  and 
religious  obligation,  the  plea  was  based,  mainlv,  on 
the  fear  that  it  would  lead  to  such  demoralization  of 
the  day  that  "the  poor  man'sSunday  would  become 
a  thing  of  the  past."  This  low-ground  T3leading  on 
the  part  of  Christian  leaders  then,  as  since,  is  one  of 
the  definite  evidences  of  the  decay  of  regard  for  Sun- 
da3' ;  for,  while  it  is  true  that  no-Sabbathism  tends 
to  make  all  days  alike,  when  Christians  place  the 
observance  of  Sundav  on  such  crrounds,  thev  remove 


4  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

the  whole  Sabbath  question  from  the  higher,  the 
true,  ground  on  which,  only,  it  can  find  permanency 
and  power.  Of  course  the  reason  for  this  low  stand- 
ard in  the  case  of  Sunday  arises  from  the  fact  that 
it  has  no  place  in  the  Bible,  and  our  Baptist  breth- 
ren cannot  appeal  to  the  Divine  Word  without  con- 
demning their  own  practice.  In  this  fact  lies  the 
inevitable  failure  of  Sunday.  The  "  one-day-in- 
seven  "  theory,  the  mere  "rest-day"  theory,  and  the 
*'  Civil  Sabbath  "  theory  all  belong  to  the  same  list. 
They  exist  as  the  prominent  arguments,  because 
men  cannot  appeal  to  the  Bible  as  the  standard  in 
the  matter  of  Sunday.  Because  of  this,  if  for  no 
other  reason,  Sunday  must  continue  to  decay. 

In  March,  1882,  Rev.  Doctor  McArthur,  of  New 
York,  a  representative  Baptist,  discussing  the  open- 
ing of  museums  on  Sunday,  indulged  in  some  strong 
denunciation  of  foreigners  who  come  to  this  coun- 
try, and  before  they  learn  the  English  language  be- 
gin to  clamor  for  the  French  or  the  German  Sunday. 
But  even  this  Phillipic  ended  with  the  tame  sugges- 
tion that  the  best  way  to  preserve  Sunday  was  to 
do  nothing  that  would  secularize  the  day.  There 
was  no  appeal  to  the  Word  of  God  as  the  basis  of 
Sunday-observance.  These  evasions  of  the  real  issue 
in  the  case  are  among  the  strongest  proofs  of  the 
decay  of  regard,  and  of  the  want  of  a  religious  basis 
for  Sunday.  If  it  be  said  that  men  evade  in  this  way 
because  they  have  learned  that  there  is  no  basis  for 
Sunday  in  the  Bible,  that  is  still  greater  evidence 
that  the  decay  must  go  on. 


BAPTIST   TESTIMONY.  5 

In  1883  the  Watch  Tower  declared  that  the 
secularization  of  Sunday  was  increasing  with  great 
rapidity,  and  that  many  pleasure  resorts  in  and  near 
New  York  were  thronged  on  Sunday  with  depraved 
crowds,  and  with  depraving  amusements.  These 
people  were  numbered  by  "hundreds  of  thousands," 
said  the  Watch  Tower;  and  yet  from  its  high  place 
it  saw  so  little  hope,  and  it  offered  no  remedy-, 
worthy  of  the  name. 

In  June,  1883,  the  Christian  Secretary  said  that 
"growing  Sabbath-desecration  was  one  of  the  great- 
est evils  of  the  times."  It  was  bringing  swift  de- 
moralization on  the  land.  With  the  multitude  Sun- 
day was  a  holida\^  rather  than  a  holj^  day.  The 
Secretary  said  that  Christians  "put  a  sort  of  salve 
on  their  consciences"  by  attending  church  in  the 
morning,  and  then  sought  forbidden  pleasures  in  the 
afternoon.  It  charged  hard  things  against  Chris- 
tians for  fostering  the  increasing  decay. 

In  the  autumn  of  1883,  the  Baptist  Convention 
of  the  state  of  New  York  resolved  that  a  better  ob- 
servance of  Sunday  is  "indispensable  to  the  pros- 
perity of  our  religion  and  the  sway  of  moralit3^"  It 
mentioned  and  "  deplored  "  various  forms  of  disre- 
gard for  Sunday, and  urged  Baptists  to  "stand  for  a 
more  Scriptural  observance  of  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath." But  since  there  is  no  "Scriptural"  observ- 
ance of  Sunday,  the  appeal  of  the  Convention  could 
not  check  the  decline  which  it  lamented. 

The  increase  of  railroading  on  Sunday'  w^as  a 
prominent  feature  of  the  decline  in  1883.     The  Chris- 


b  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

tian  Secretary,  and  other  papers  in  New  England, 
spoke  earnestly  against  this.  The^^  declared  that 
there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty  illegal  trains  in 
Massachusetts  alone.  The  discussion  in  religious 
circles  that  year  gave  evidence  of  wide  and  radical 
differences  of  opinion,  which  tended  to  confusion  and 
weakness.  The  Baptist  Messenger,  Pittsburg,  May 
5,  reported  a  discussion  in  the  Alinisters'  Conference 
in  that  city,  as  to  how  far  the  observance  of  Sunday' 
could  be  based  on  the  Fourth  Commandment,  and 
whether  there  was  authorit\^  for  the  change  of  the 
Sabbath  to  the  Sunda3\  This  was  one  of  the  few 
cases  in  \^  hich  the  fundamental  issues  were  consid- 
ered. The  opinions  were  summarized  b3^  the  Mes- 
senger in  the  following  words:  "No  two  members 
of  the  Conference  seemed  to  hold  preciseh^  the  same 
opinions,  some  going  so  far  as  to  affirm  that  the 
Fourth  Commandment  was  abrogated,  being  part 
of  the  Jewish  law,  and  the  onh- commandment  not 
re-^.ffirmed  in  the  New  Testament.  Those  who  held 
this  view  strongly  objected  to  the  term  '  Christian 
Sabbath.'"  This  discussion  at  Pittsburg  was  a 
sample  of  the  prevailing  trend  among  Baptists  when 
the  question  of  the  Biblical  grounds  for  observing 
SundaA'  were  under  consideration.  There  was  then, 
as  there  has  been  ever  since,  a  marked  tend- 
ency to  abandon  the  effort  to  find  any  Biblical 
ground  for  the  "Change  of  the  Sabbath"  and  to 
adopt  the  no-Sabbath  doctrine ;  or  else  to  place  Sun- 
day-observance on  the  ground  of  tradition.  This 
last  tendency  was  evinced  in  the  most  open  manner 


BAPTIST   TESTIMONY.  7 

in  the  Baptist  Congress  at  Detroit,  a  lew  years  later. 
The  decay  of  Sunday  has  driven  Baptists  to  tradi- 
tionahsm,  and  the  adoption  of  traditionalism  has 
hastened  the  decay.  Thus  does  error  feed  upon 
itself. 

In  July,  1884,  a  correspondent  of  the  Examiner 
wrote  sadl\^  of  the  "eclipse"  of  Sunday."  He  cited 
the  fact  that  California  had  just  lost  her  Sunday 
law,  by  repeal;  that  the  chief  cities  of  the  West  had 
no  Sabbath;  that  business  and  pleasure  held  sway, 
at  "will.  He  said  that  the  general  disregard  for  Sun- 
day w^as  ten  times  as  great  as  it  was  ten  years  be- 
fore, and  that  if  it  continued  to  gain  for  ten  years 
more  at  the  same  ratio,  little  would  be  left.  His 
prophecy  has  been  well  fulfilled.  To  his  own  inquiry 
as  to  how  the  eclipse  could  be  sta^^ed,  he  had  only 
this  lament:  "Meanwhile  the  heavens  are  darken- 
ing and  the  earth  is  growing  ghastly  and  chill  with 
the  coming  eclipse." 

In  July,  1884,  the  Examiner  spoke  of  the  divided 
sentiment  among  Christians.  There  had  been  much 
agitation  concerning  the  establishing  of  public  con- 
certs in  Central  Park,  New  York,  on  Sunday.  It 
had  resulted  in  their  establishment  in  July  of  that 
year.  Whereupon  the  Examiner  said  that  Christian 
people  were  much  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  mat- 
ter, and  that  several  pulpits  had  given  the  concerts 
their  approval,  and  that  at  least  one  religious  paper 
had  done  the  same. 

In  the  National  Baptist  for  July  5,  1888,  Robert 
J.  Burdette,  the  humorist,  described  Sunday  west  of 


O  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

the  Rocky  Mountains.  He  said  he  liad  never  been  in 
a  country  where  there  was  so  much  bath-room  and 
so  little  Sunda3%  and  hence  cleanliness  and  Godliness 
did  not  always  go  together.  Sunday  was  a  day 
when  ever3'bod3'  went  somewhere  except  to  church, 
and  did  something  other  than  worship.  His  conclu- 
sion was  that  while  there  was  ''some  Sunday  left  in 
the  East,  there  was  none  in  the  West." 

In  February',  1889,  one  who  wrote  over  the  sig- 
nature of  "Quandary,"  in  the  Examiner,  discussed 
the  fact  that  various  forms  of  the  desecration  of  Sun- 
day had  so  emasculated  the  consciences  of  men  that 
protest  was  too  feeble  to  prevent  them  from  yield- 
ing to  the  prevalent  deca.j.  In  the  course  of  his  arti- 
cle this  correspondent  indulged  in  the  following  quiet 
but  cutting  satire : 

"Is  it  strange,  then,  since  I  see  on  my  way  to 
church  on  Sunday-,  almost  as  on  other  days,  busy 
crowds  around  post-offices,  and  the  railroad  depots, 
and  the  steamboat  landings,  and  since  I  hear,  as  I 
sit  in  the  sanctuary,  the  whistle  of  the  engine  and 
the  rumbling  of  the  trains,  while  there  comes  no 
voice,  or  only  a  faint  w^hisper,  from  the  pulpit,  in 
rebuke  of  all  this  labor,  and  noise,  and  bustle,  is  it 
strange  that,  when  I  go  home,  untutored  laymen  as 
I  am,  I  should  give  myself  up  to  the  pleasant  recrea- 
tion of  reading  my  Sunday  papers,  satisfied  that  in 
so  doing  I  am  no  more  guilty  than  those  members  of 
the  church  who  do,  or  direct,  all  this  Sur.da3^  work 
which  I  have  just  mentioned,  and  that  I  should  ieel 
assured   that,   as  a  considerable  part  of  the  church 


BAPTIST   TESTIMONY.  9 

and  of  the  ministr^^  do  not  seem  to  regard  them  as 
specially  culpable,  so  I  need  not  regard  myself  as  a 
great  offender,  if  an  offender  at  all?  " 

A  sharper  picture  of  general  decay  could  not  well 
be  drawn. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  1894,  anotable  example 
of  satire  appeared  in  the  National  Baptist.  It  was 
over  the  signature  "Rambler,"  who  was  none  other 
than  the  gifted  editor,  the  late  Rev.  H.  L.  Wa^dand, 
D.  D.  This  trenchant  sarcasm  show^ed,  as  no  logic 
could,  the  utter  failure  of  the  legal  side  of  Sunday. 
It  is  too  terse  to  be  summarized,  and  too  good  to  be 
lost.     Here  it  is  entire : 

"The  Rambler  is  happy  to  convey  to  his  thou- 
sands of  readers  a  delightful  and  momentous  an- 
nouncement. Civilization  is  saved;  morality  is 
secure;  the  Sabbath  is  rescued.  History  does  not 
record  a  more  marked  and  unparalleled  triumph  for 
religion,  and  especially  for  the  safetj^  of  the  Sab- 
bath. We  have  long  been  threatened  with  the 
overthrow^  of  our  most  cherished  religious  institu- 
tions ;  but  at  last,  if  the  reader  will  permit  the  play 
of  imagination,  the  hand  of  Providence  smiles  upon 
us.  The  Rambler  finds  in  the  New^  York  Herald, 
December  27,  the  statement  that  on  the  Sunday 
previous,  Morris  Lichnaeum  was  arrested  by  Detect- 
ive Sloan  for  selling  him  a  shoe-string  for  two  cents. 
The  blood-stained  criminal  was  held  in  $100  bail,  to 
stand  trial  for  violation  of  the  Sunday  law,  and,  so 
far  as  can  be  gathered,  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tombs 
for  want  of  this  bail.     Once  more  w^e  breathe  freelv  ; 


10  DECADEN'CE   OF   SUNDAY. 

i.  e  ,  the  Rambler  does;  jo3^  irradiates  our,  his,  heart. 
It  is  true,  on  that  day  the  thousands  of  God-defying 
saloons  were  pursuing  to  the  full  their  murderous 
trade;  ever^^  infamous  resort  was  doing  a  thriving 
business ;  all  the  branch  houses  of  hell  were  prosper- 
ing ;  all  the  avenues  to  destruction  were  crowded ; 
the  locomotives  were  dragging  their  heav}'  trains  of 
freight  and  passengers  over  every  railroad  in  the 
state;  the  morning  newspaper  trains  went  out 
gorged  Avitli  the  Sunday  papers,  and  presenth'  they 
were  cried  in  every  railroa^  town  throughout  the 
state.  If  it  had  been  summer,  the  excursion  steam- 
ers would  have  been  plying  to  and  from  every  acces- 
sible point  on  the  waters  of  New  York ;  but  these  are 
trifles.  The  law  arose  in  its  majesty  and  asserted  it- 
self; the  hand  of  justice  descended  like  an  avalanche 
or  a  water-spout  or  a  cyclone  upon  this  monster 
Morris  Lichnaeum  (who  presumabh^  was  an  Israel- 
ite, and  who,  it  is  quite  likely,  had  spent  the  pre- 
vious day  in  the  synagogue,  according  to  the  law  of 
his  people),  and,  almost  before  he  knew  where  he 
was,  Morris  was  immured  in  a  dungeon,  and  had  an 
opportunity  to  reflect  upon  the  unutterable  iniquity 
of  his  ways  and  to  mourn  that  he  had  not  spent  the 
Sabbath  in  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  the  saloon-keeper 
and  the  gambler.  The  reader  will  observe  that  the 
shoe-string,  price  two  cents,  was  sold  to  the  detect- 
ive himself;  the  presumption  is  that  the  detective  be- 
guiled the  unhapp\^  Israelite  into  making  the  sale. 
If  this  be  so,  it  heightens  our  sense  of  the  dignity 
and  majesty   of  the  transaction,  and   enhances  the 


BAPTIST   TESTIMONY.  11 

triumph  of  justice.  Let  us  hope  that  this  event  will 
strike  awe  into  the  souls  of  other  Hebrew  sellers  of 
shoe-strings;  let  us  imagine  the  feeling  of  holy  com- 
placency with  w^hich  the  keeper  of  the  saloon,  or  of 
the  more  infamous  resorts  protected  by  the  police, 
must  have  looked  out  of  the  window  and  seen  this 
felon,  laden  with  unspeakable  guilt  and  ignominy, 
dragged  to  the  Tombs  by  Detective  Sloan  ;  and  we 
ma^^  imagine  Detective  Sloan,  as  he  passed  by,  wink- 
ing at  one  and  another  of  his  clients,  and  seeming  to 
say  to  them,  '  Behold  the  triumph  of  justice ' ;  and  in 
response  the  saloon-keepers  and  the  prostitutes  and 
the  gamblers  must  have  rubbed  their  hands,  gently 
murmuring,  '  We  thank  Thee  that  w^e  are  not  as 
other  men,  or  even  as  this  Sunday  shoe-string  seller.' 

"  It  is  a  da^'  of  statues  and  monuments  ;  we  are 
erecting  monuments  to  all  the  heroes  we  can  think 
of,  and  a  good  nian\^  w^hom  we  cannot  think  of^ 
with  any  pleasure — and  we  are  looking  around  for 
other  heroes  to  be  immortalized.  Will  not  the  Me- 
tropolis place  in  its  most  frequented  resort  a  statue 
of  Detective  Sloan,  exhibiting  in  his  right  hand  the 
historical  shoe-string,  and  in  the  other  hand  a  scroll 
on  w^hich  shall  be  inscribed,  THE  TRRTMPH  OF 
SUNDAY-OBSERVANCE?  There  will  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  providing  means  for  its  erection.  Those 
ardent  friends  of  the  Sunday-,  the  saloon-keepers, 
whose  purses  are  always  open  when  adequately  ap- 
pealed to,  wall  not  be  wanting." 

How  that  satire  cuts  ! 

The    Watchman   for  Nov.    12,  1890,  wrote  con- 


12  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

ceriiing  the  difficulty  of  enforcing  Sunday  laws  be- 
cause of  the  differences  of  opinion  among  men  and 
the  inconsistent  practices  of  Christians,  including 
clergymen.  It  urged  that  for  the  good  of  all  con- 
cerned, and  especially  for  the  good  of  Sunday,  some 
general  agreement  should  be  reached  as  to  how  Sun- 
day- ought  to  be  observed.  But  this  paper,  so  clear- 
eyed  and  stalwart  on  most  questions,  closed  its  plea 
for  tmity  with  this  confession  of  failure.  "  Without 
this  it  is  to  be  feared  that  our  Sabbath  will  be  slowly 
worn  away  by  the  attrition  of  worldliness  until 
there  is  nothing  left  for  the  law  to  protect." 

One  of  the  most  open  avowals  of  the  decay  of 
faith  in  the  sacredness  of  Sunda3%  on  the  part  of 
Baptist  leaders,  is  found  in  the  records  of  the  Bap- 
tist Congress  held  in  Detroit,  Mich.,  in  1894.  A 
prominent  theme  in  that  gathering  was  this  :  "  Tra- 
dition as  a  Formative  Force  in  Baptist  Doctrine  and 
Church  Life."  Five  prominent  Baptists  took  part 
in  the  discussion  of  this  theme.  It  goes  without  say- 
ing that  such  a  theme  must  induce  a  consideration 
of  the  Sunday  question.  Rev.  Augustine  S.  Carman 
said  :  "  It  is  doubtful  whether,  if  we  were  left  to  the 
scanty-  indications  of  the  New  Testament  alone,  un- 
aided by  the  light  thrown  on  the  New  Testament 
from  subsequent  times,  we  should  have  been  able  to 
arrive  at  that  observance  of  the  Lord's-da3^  which 
has  been  the  priceless  possession  of  Christendom.  At 
any  rate  we  owe  a  large  debt  to  tradition  for  facts 
which  aid  us  in  the  interpretation  of  the  scanty  inti- 
mations of  Scripture  on  this  subject." 


BAPTIST   TESTIMONY.  13 

Rev.  Levi  D.  Temple  made  a  full  surrender  of  the 
Sunday  to  tradition.  He  declared  that  tradition 
was  the  source  of  the  introduction  of  the  Sunda^^ 
into  the  Baptist  creed.  It  had  been  placed  in  their 
Standards  like  the  "  Philadelphia  Confession,"  dat- 
ing from  1784,  without  Biblical  support.  He  averred 
that  the  Baptist  creed  which  claimed  that  SundaA^ 
has  taken  the  place  of  the  Sabbath  "has  almost  as 
little  justification  in  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles  as  the  itinerancy  of  the  clergy,  or  the  Cath- 
olic doctrine  of  confession  and  absolution." 

Doctor  A.  S.  Hobart  said  that  if  Baptists  give 
up  tradition  as  a  source  of  authority  they  must  give 
up  worship  on  Sunday,  to  begin  with.  Here  is  a 
representative  sentence  from  Dr.  Hobart:  "I  tell 
you,  3'ou  ma3^  stand  up  in  any  pulpit  in  the  land  and 
quote  the  Bible,  and  it  won't  make  any  impression 
at  all  toward  changing  the  practice  of  the  church, 
for  they  would  say  grandpa  did  it  that  wa^-,  and  it 
is  good  enough  for  us." 

These  men  told  the  truth.  Sunday  has  no  ground 
except  tradition.  It  also  contradicts  the  Bible  in 
the  claim  that  the  Sabbath  has  been  set  aside  for 
Sunday,  on  Biblical,  or  Divine  authorit}'.  But  when 
Baptist  leaders  yield  all  this  without  returning  to 
the  Bible,  it  is  overwhelming  evidence  of  the  loss  of 
Sabbath  sentiment  among  them. 

In  1885,  W.  W.  Evarts,  D.  D.,  issued  a  book,  E. 
B.  Treat,  New  York,  publisher,  entitled  :  "  The  Sab- 
bath ;  Its  Permanence,  Promise,  and  Defense."  This 
book  bore  testimony  to  the  decay  of  Sunday-  in  full- 


14  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

ness  and  detail.  It  devotes  a  chapter  of  thirty-one 
pages  to  "Violations  of  the  Sabbath,"  in  which  the 
current  forms  of  disregard  for  Sunday  are  recounted. 
The  closing  chapter  appeals  to  Christians  for  a  bet- 
ter observance  of  the  da^^  and  urges  that  the  decline 
is  largeh^  induced  by  the  bad  example  of  those  who 
profess  to  be  the  friends  and  defenders  of  Sunda3\ 
Here  are  two  representative  sentences.  "American 
communities  are  falling  into  Sabbath-desecration  as 
the  American  church  becomes  slack  in  Sabbath-ob- 
servance. Baker,  barber,  milk-man,  confectioner, 
railroad  conductor,  and  steamboat  captain  all  bear 
witness  that  the  church  membership  of  the  country' 
contribute  largely  to  the  enforcement  of  Sabbath  in- 
dustries." 

All  in  all,  the  Baptist  leaders  in  the  United  States 
are  united  in  declaring  that  regard  for  Sunday  as  a 
Sabbath,  on  the  authority  of  the  Fourth  Command- 
ment, is  rapidly  going,  if  not  practically  gone,  from 
the  Baptist  ranks.  No-Sabbath  theories  and  prac- 
tices are  increasing  in  corresponding  ratio. 


CHAPTER  II. 

METHODIST  TESTIMONY. 

Complicitj-  of  Methodists  with  Sunday-desecration  bj'  Camp  meetings 
— Fears  of  Southern  New  England  Conference — Decay  of  Sunday 
bringing  national  ruin — Christian  Advocate,  New  York,  on  Sun- 
daj-  papers,  and  swift  coming  dangers — Western  Advocate  on 
supreniac3^  of  saloons— Sunday  base-ball — Christians  responsible 
•for  the  death  of  Sunday — Methodist  Review  or\  "Judgment  at  the 
House  of  God" — National  peril— Burning  testimonj^  of  Bishop 
Ninde — vSundaj-  is  dying  because  of  no  foundation  in  the  Bible. 

^HOSE  Methodist  writers  whose  words  have  come 
under  our  observation  have  made  much  of"  the 
responsibilit\^  of  Christians  "  as  to  the  loss  of  regard 
for  Sunday'.  Methodists  have  borne  ample  testi- 
mony^ against  the  secularization  of  Sunday ;  on  the 
other  hand,  more  than  an\^  other  denomination,  the}^ 
have  been  liable  to  the  cliarge  of  complicity  with 
Sunday-desecration,  especially  through  their  camp- 
meeting  system.  We  have  in  hand  some  very  severe 
testimony  on  that  point,  which  will  yet  appear. 

In  April,  1882,  the  Southern  New  England  M.  E. 
Conference,  sitting  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  listened  to 
an  earnest  report  from  a  committee  on  "  Sabbath- 
observance."  That  report  expressed  grave  doubts 
whether  Sunda^^-observance  could  be  maintained  in 
New  England  much  longer,  unless  "the  religious 
masses  of  ever^^  denomination  arouse  to  their  peril." 
The  report  mentioned  many  flagrant  forms  of  disre- 
gard for  Sunday.  It  was  emphatic  in  condemning 
the  complicit}^  of  great   business   organizations  with 


16  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

Sunday-breaking,  and  dwelt  upon  the  serious  lack  of 
regard  for  Sunday  laws.  It  urged  all  to  ring  out 
the  alarm,  and  warn  nien  of  the  ruin  which  would 
hasten  unless  Sunday  was  better  observed. 

In  1882  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  was  cil^cu- 
lating  a  booklet,  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Payne,  entitled, 
'*The  American  Sabbath."  It  was  first  published 
several  years  before.  Even  at  that  time  Dr.  Payne 
said  that  the  observance  of  Sunda\^  was  "  one  of  the 
most  momentous  questions  of  the  hour,  affecting  the 
most  vital  interests  of  our  nation."  He  declared 
that  the  influences  then  combined  against  Sunday 
gave  great  reason  to  fear  that  it  would  be  wholly 
lost.  On  the  national  side  he  put  the  case  in  strong 
terms.  "Give  us  a  Continental  Sabbath,  and  fare- 
well to  our  loved  Christian  land." 

The  Christian  Advocate,  of  New  York,  has  been 
among  the  most  vigorous  of  the  Methodist  papers 
in  denouncing  the  various  forms  of  disregard  for 
Sunday.  The  Sunday  newspapers  have  come  in  for 
a  good  share  of  attention  from  the  Advocate.  In 
1883  it  scored  the  Tribune  and  other  New  York  pa- 
pers for  "  unblushingh'  boasting  over  the  Godless  en- 
terprise of  running  special  trains  for  the  purpose  of 
distributing  their  papers  at  points  distant  from  the 
city,  on  Sunday."  August  13,  1885,  the  Advocate 
wrote  sadly  of  the  fact  that  a  great  and  unfavorable 
change  had  taken  place  within  thirty  years,  in  pub- 
lic opinion  and  in  popular  practices,  concerning  Sun- 
day. It  said  that  the  old  idea  which  rested  the  ob- 
servance of  the  dav  on   the   authoritv  of  the  Bible, 


METHODIST    TESTIMONY.  17 

and  on  the  sanction  of  the  fourth  commandment, 


had  given  way  to  loose  antinomian  theories.  Busi- 
ness had  increased  everywhere,  on  land  and  sea,  and 
it  was  reported  that  in  some  of  the  theological  semi- 
naries candidates  for  the  ministry  were  taught  that 
the  day  should  be  observed  on  other  grounds  than 
that  of  "  divine  obligation."  December  the  17th,  of 
the  same  year,  the  Advocate  again  urged  that  no 
man  who  was  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  nation 
could  be  indifferent  to  the  rapid  decay  of  Sunday. 
It  insisted  that  help  must  hasten  promptly,  or  Sun- 
day would  be  "  overwhelmed  by  the  tide  of  secular- 
it3^"  It  also  said  that  these  dangers  had  come  in  so 
quietly  that  many  good  men  were  undisturbed,  al- 
though much  was  alread^^  lost.  With  a  despair,  not 
causeless,  the  Advocate  said:  "It  is  even  now  a 
serious  question  with  some  of  the  more  w^atchful 
friends  of  the  Sabbath  whether  it  is  not  too  late  to 
regain  what  has  been  surrendered,  or  even  to  sta3' 
the  progress  of  the  evil." 

In  1888  efforts  were  made  to  check  the  carnival 
of  the  saloons  on  Sunday  in  Cincinnati  through 
what  was  known  as  the  Owen  law.  The  effort  was 
described  by  the  Western  Christian  Advocate  as  a 
useless  "spasm  of  virtue,"  which  lasted  for  a  week 
or  two,  and  died  an  ignominious  death.  It  de- 
clared that  no  amount  of  evidence  could  convict  or 
punish  a  Sunday  saloon  in  that  city.  Here  is  a  rep- 
resentative sentence :  "  Gambrinus  is  king,  and  Cin- 
cinnati's shame  is  published  to  the  world." 

The  detailed  discussion  of  the  Sunda}^  saloon  be- 


18  DECADENCK   OF   SUNDAY. 

longs  to  the  temperance  question  rather  than  to  the 
theme  of  this  article.  But  it  is  well  to  say  in  pass- 
ing, that  no  one  thing  marks  the  collapse  of  the 
efforts  to  rescue  Sunday  more  than  the  almost  un- 
limited power  of  the  forces  of  evil  which  have  taken 
possession  of  it  as  the  great  and  growing  holiday. 
The  unwise  and  unjust  systems  which  place  the 
nefarious  saloon  business  so  nearU'  on  the  same  level 
with  other  businesses,  under  the  same  general  law, 
is  partly  at  fault  in  the  matter.  But  the  deeper 
danger  lies  in  this  fact:  Sunday- law  creates  a  day 
of  irreligious  leisure  for  the  masses  of  men.  That  is 
just  what  the  saloon  wants.  The  futile  attempt  to 
make  a  religious  day  by  law  does  no  more  than  cre- 
ate the  holiday  on  w4iich  the  saloons  fatten.  This 
form  of  self-destiuction  will  continue  until  the  advo- 
cates of  the  present  system  grow  wise  enough  to 
separate  the  sale  of  liquor  on  Sunda3'  from  all  other 
forms  of  business.  The  license  system  protects  the 
saloon  on  six  days,  and  gives  it  the  "whip  hand" 
over  all  decent  and  legitimate  business  on  Sun- 
day. Thus  Sunday  is  made  to  be  self-destructive  bj^ 
law. 

In  the  autumn  of  1888  the  Christian  Advocate, 
New  York,  told  of  a  baseball  game  in  Brooklyn,  at 
which  4,500  people  gathered.  Contrasting  that 
with  former  times,  the  Advocate  said  that  thirt\' 
years  before  "  an  hundred  pulpits  "  would  have  been 
aflame  with  protest,  and  would  have  come  to  the 
rescue  of  the  outraged  Sunday.  In  the  same  connec- 
tion it  enumerated  manv  causes  for  the  decline  and 


AIETHODIST    TESTIMONY.  19 

for  the  apath^^  of  pulpits.  It  said  :  ''  The  demoraliz- 
ing effects  of  a  Continental  Sunday  are  visible  on 
ever\^  hand.  Continental  beer,  wine,  gambling 
sports,  non-church-going  are  already  here.  Con- 
tinental open  licentiousness  is  following  hard  after." 
Often  and  again  did  the  Advocate  lift  up  its  voice 
during  1888  against  the  persistent  decay,  which  is 
so  clearly  apprehended.  Here  is  one  of  its  para- 
graphs : 

"Eight  years  ago  we  w^ere  rebuked  for  saying 
that  the  American  Sabbath  is  gone,  and  that  Chris- 
tians were  responsible  for  its  death.  Few  will  now 
be  found  to  deny  the  first  of  these  assertions,  and 
few  to  affirm  that  this  ruin  could  have  been  wrought 
if  Christians  had  consistentl3^  practiced  what  they 
professed,  and  unitedh'  endeavored  to  prevent  a  vio- 
lation of  law." 

In  another  chapter  we  shall  present  a  great 
arra\'  of  testimony  as  to  the  influence  of  Christians 
in  bringing  in  the  loss  of  Sunday.  Alean while  the 
reader  will  be  wise  who  ponders  well  the  trenchant 
words  of  the  Advocate. 

Nov.  20,  1890,  the  Advocate  said:  ''A 'great 
popular  current  and  movement  of  the  ages^  has 
taken  place ;  and  with  what  result  ?  The  Sabbath  is 
almost  destroyed  in  this  countr3^  Little  by  little, 
with  the  consent  and  supported  bj^  the  practices  of 
man^'  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  Baptists  and  Con- 
gregationalists,  the  land  has  been  filled  with  rail- 
road excursions  on  the  Sabbath,  and  the  streams, 
adjacent  seas  and  lakes  filled  with  steamboat  excur- 


20  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

sions ;  and  the  rural  districts  during  the  summer 
hegira  are  covered  with  city  and  town  Christians,  of 
whom  most  have  left  their  Sabbath  behind  them, 
such  as  it  w^as.  In  many  of  the  cities  theaters  are 
opened,  and  little  or  nothing  is  done  to  preserve  the 
sanctity  of  the  da3^" 

For  terseness  and  truthfulness,  that  paragraph 
cannot  be  surpassed.  To  question  it  is  useless.  To 
shrink  from  it  is  futile.  To  laugh  at  it  is  foolish  and 
cowardly. 

In  1891  the  Methodist  i^eWewnumber  for  March 
and  April  published  a  symposium  on  the  Sunday 
question.  One  of  the  writers,  Rev.  Dr.  Coxe,  dis- 
cussed "Remedies  for  Sabbath  Decline."  He  re- 
counted, in  an  eloquent  manner,  how  Sunday  is  men- 
aced by  strong  and  alert  foes,  and  how  it  is  not  de- 
fended by  apathetic  and  self-confident  friends.  He 
declared  with  unction  that  the  issue  was  not  one  of 
human  opinion,  but  of  divine  authority.  He  urged 
the  friends  of  Sunday  to  remember  that  defeat  is  dis- 
aster and  ruin  for  all  the  best  interests  of  religion. 
He  averred  that  the  puritv  of  the  home  and  the  sta- 
bility of  the  nation  depend  on  a  revival  of  regard  for 
Sunday.  He  charged  the  main  responsibility  for  the 
evil  state  of  Sunday-observance  on  Christians.  Irre- 
ligious men  will  not  rise  higher  than  the  standard 
set  by  Christians,  and  that  standard,  he  said,  was 
sinfully  low.  "Judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of 
God,"  were  his  pertinent  and  closing  words. 

In  1893  the  Advocate,  of  New  York,  again  wrote 
of  the  national  peril  from  the  prevailing  corruption 


METHODIST    TESTIMONY.  21 

associated  with  the  loss  of  regard  for  Stinda}-.  It 
pictured  the  scene  with  vividness  like  the  flashes  of 
lightning  in  an  August  thunderstorm.  Here  is  one: 
"  The  question  is  one  of  tremendous  importance,  for 
it  is  vital  to  the  successful  progress  of  Christianit3% 
not  to  speak  of  the  perpetuation  of  the  Republic 
itself."  For  clear-eyedness  in  seeing-  the  fact  of  a 
hopeless  decline  in  the  standing  of  Sunday-,  the  Advo- 
cate was  not  surpassed  b^^  anj^  of  its  compeers. 

We  desire  to  call  special  attention  to  the  words 
of  Bishop  Ninde,  in  1892,  when  the  Sunday  question 
w^as  prominentl\^  before  the  National  Conference  of 
Methodists  at  a  meeting  in  Omaha.  The  Advance, 
of  May  19,  gave  this  summar^^  of  what  the  Bishop 
said : 

"  At  the  immense  meeting  held  in  tlie  interest  of 
the  American  Sabbath  at  Omaha,  last  Sundaj^ 
Bishop  Ninde  is  spoken  of  as  having  made  the  speech 
of  the  day,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  elo- 
quent ^Yarren  and  other  distinguished  speakers  made 
addresses.  It  w^as  the  Bishop's  wav  of  putting  the 
matter  which  seems  to  have  captured  the  audience. 
'You  cannot,'  he  said,  'expect  the  people  to  keep  the 
Sabbath  holy  until  the  churches  have  won  the 
masses  to  Christianity.'  This  gets  at  the  root  of 
the  matter.  Irreligious  people  do  not  want  a  relig- 
ious da\\  The}'  ma^^  want  a  rest  day  or  a  holiday, 
but  not  a  hoh'  d^y.  The  principal  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  closing  the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday-  is 
that  so  mauA'  people  want  it  open.  One  class 
want  it  open  as  a  part  of  the  fight   against   religion, 


22  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

and  they  are  a  pretty  numerous  class,  but  a  class 
who  do  not  usually  care  to  stand  befoi-e  the  com- 
munity as  open  enemies  of  Christianit_v.  They  prefer 
to  fight  it  on  a  side  issue,  where  there  is  a  chance  to 
mask  their  real  meaning.  Another  class  want  it 
open  to  make  money,  and  the  class  represents  some 
powerful  interests.  Still  another  class  want  it  open 
as  a  part  of  the  Sunday  holiday  program.  And  it  is 
because  of  this  class  and  this  feeling  that  much  of  the 
advocacy  of  closed  gates  goes  to  pieces.  'We  want 
labor  to  have  a  rest,'  has  been  a  large  part  of  the 
argument.  But  in  the  minds  ot  the  laboring  people, 
and  of  the  employed  people  generally,  a  rest  day 
means  a  holiday,  an  '  outing,'  if  there  is  anything  to 
go  out  to.  After  the  usual  way  of  human  selfishness 
twenty  people  do  not  stop  to  think  of  the  one  person 
who  will  have  no  Sunday  rest  if  the  Fair  is  kept 
open.-  Hence  the  argument  for  rest  has,  after  all,  but 
little  weight  with  the  masses.  Last  Sunday  no  less 
than  eight  thousand  people  paid  the  price  of  admis- 
sion to  see  the  skeleton  Fair  grounds.  They  did  it 
because  they  had  an  idle  Sunday  afternoon  and 
thought  that  an  agreeable  way  of  spending  it. 

"  In  the  nature  of  the  case  a  rest  day  will  be  one 
of  the  two,  a  religious  day  or  a  holiday-.  If  the 
church  cannot  insist  on  Sunda\^-closing  as  a  matter 
of  religious  observance,  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  has 
a  practical  argument.  Certainh^  nothing  but  a 
strong  religious  conviction  will  maintahi  itself  or 
the  day  against  such  powerful  worldly  tendencies 
and  influences.     Bishop  Ninde  has  done  well  in  call- 


METHODIST    TESTIMONY.  23 

ing  attention,  on  so  conspicuous  an  occasion,  to  this 
important  feature  of  the  question." 

We  join  the  Advance  in  calling  attention  to  the 
clear-cut  truth  contained  in  the  last  paragraph  of 
the  above.  Philosophy  and  history  unite  to  declare 
that  Sunday,  as  a  leisure  day,  will  be  "  a  religious 
day  or  a  holiday."  Roman  Catholicism  has  made 
the  best  combination  of  the  two  elements  that  is  pos- 
sible. The  result  is  well  known.  The  holiday  has 
always  had  the  lion's  share.  That  day  is  yet  taken 
by  American  Sundaj^  reformers  as  the  t3^pe  most  to 
be  dreaded.  In  the  present  reaction  from  the  Puri- 
tan Sunday  compromise,  the  religious  element  has 
faded  out  with  astonishing  rapidity.  The  triumph 
of  holidayism  has  come  by  an  universal  law  of  evolu- 
tion. Sunday  has  reverted  to  holidayism  because 
no  stream  can  rise  higher  than  its  fountain  head. 
Puritanism  forced  a  temporary  religious  character 
upon  Sunday,  but  it  could  not  raise  the  original 
fountain  head,  and  so  the  stream  has  gone  back  to 
its  original  low  level.  How  long  Christians,  eager 
to  save  something  from  the  ruins  of  the  flood,  will 
refuse  to  see  the  facts  as  Bishop  Ninde  puts  them,  no 
one  can  sa^^  But  one  does  not  need  the  gift  of 
prophecy  to  see  that  Sunday  has  passed  far  beyond 
the  point  of  religious  Sabbathism.  A  few  devout 
souls  may  keep  up  the  unequal  struggle  in  their  per- 
sonal actions,  but  without  some  new  ground  of  ap- 
peal, and  some  new  basis  for  conscience,  the  masses, 
even  of  Christians,  cannot  be  called  back.  If  Sun- 
day had  any  place  in   the  Word  of  God,  any  Biblical 


24  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

ground  of  appeal  to  conscience,  the  case  would  be 
more  hopeful.  But  even  religiovis  leaders  openly  say 
that  it  has  no  such  ground,  and  the  lower  founda- 
tion which  they  attempt  to  build  for  it  is  all,  and 
always  in  favor  of,  holidayism.  What  the  new  basis 
must  be  will  be  set  forth  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  III. 

TESTIMONY   FROM    CONGREGATIONAL  SOURCES. 

Congregationalists   active   in    Sunday     Reform — Christian    Union   on 
Sundaj'  in   Boston — Cojigregationalist  on   Sunday  in    Chicago — 
Commissioner  Wright's   report  on   Sunday  labor;    importance   of; 
extent  of  in  Massachusetts—"  Church  Trains  "  began  the   desecra- 
tion;  street  cars  run  on  Sunday  to  accommodate  church-goers — No 
loss  of  wages  from  Sunday  work — Efforts  to   save  Sunday  by   civil 
law — Sunday  laws  not  enforced  on  religious  basis— Nothing  gained 
— The  Advance  on  Sunday  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  in  Boston;   com- 
mends  Bishop   Ninde — Legal  desecration    in  Massachusetts — Con- 
gj-ega/ionalis/  on  destruction  of  Sunday  by  Christians;  on   failure 
of  Sunday  law  in  Cambridge,  Mass.— Growth  of  Sunday   Newspa- 
pers— Dr.  Noble  on  desecration   in  Chicago — Advance  on  the  same 
— Crowning    testimony    from    Dr.    Leonard    W.    Bacon — Sunday 
Lost  ! 
T3EPRESENTING  Puritanism  in  a  direct  historical 
line,  it  must  be  that  Congregationalists  should 
take  a  deep  interest  in  the  question  of  Sunday  and  in 
the  evidences  of  its  decay.     So  far  as  we  can  judge, 
the^'  are  now  the  largest  factor  in  the  organized 
efforts  to  secure  a  better  observance  of  Sunda\'  in 
New   England.     During  1883   and   1884  there  was 
such  a  wide-spread  discussion  of  the  evils  which  had 
already  come  with  the  decline  of  regard  for  Sunda^^ 
that  the  more  hopeful  ones  looked  for  some  definite 
improvement,   at  least  among  Christians.     But  on 
the  10th  of  July,  1884,  the  Boston  correspondent  of 
the  Christian  Union    (the  Christian  Union,  although 
an  independent  paper,   belonged  in   the   Congrega- 
tional group)  gave   a  graphic  account  of  increasing 


26  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

disregard  for  Sunday  in  the  earl^^  home  of  Puritan- 
ism. He  said  that  he  was  not  ''  moralizing  but  stat- 
ing facts"  in  saying  that  while '' Boston  society" 
w^as  recreating  abroad,  the  masses  at  home  were 
making  Sunda\"  a  day  for  recreation  in  many  ways ; 
that  many  country  people  came  to  Boston  for  such 
recreation  as  only  the  great  city  afforded  on  Sunda}'. 
The  correspondence  closed  with  this  :  "  Driying  on 
Sunda^^  is  verj^  common;  families  who  worship  in 
elegant  churches  in  the  morning  driye  in  the  after- 
noon, many  of  them,  while  the  larger  numbers  who 
driye  for  recreation,  fearless  of  God  and  disregard- 
ing man,  swell  the  number  to  troops  on  the  fashion- 
able highwa3^s.  Say  what  you  may  on  the  Sunday 
question,  the  strictly  Puritan  Sunday  does  not  be- 
long to  the  Boston  of  to-day." 

On  March  6,  1884,  the  Chicago  correspondent  of 
the  Congregationalist  detailed  the  great  and  grow- 
ing disregard  for  Sunday  in  that  Central-Western 
metropolis.  He  was  especially  seyere  on  the  "Ro- 
man Catholic  Archbishop  of  Chicago,"  who  had 
lately  headed  an  array  of  "noisy  processions"  on 
Sunda3^  That  eyent  had  drawn  out  a  sermon  by 
Rey.  Dr.  Little,  a  Congregationalist,  on  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  affair,  and  the  Presbyterian  Ministers' 
Association  had  made  it  prominent  as  a  matter  of 
discussion.  Among  other  things  the  correspondent 
said  :  "  The  extent  to  w4iich  the  cit3%  if  not  the  day, 
is  eyery  Sunday  desecrated,  defiled,  degraded,  by  the 
four  thousand  saloons  and  all  the  theatres  in  full 
blast,  is  felt  to  be  bad  enough,  without  haying  an 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  2  ( 

archbishop  and  a  hundred  of  his  clergy  lend  the 
sanction  of  their  example  to  such  contempt,  both  for 
the  value  of  the  day  and  the  civil  rights  of  other  peo- 
ple." In  reading  such  animadversions  upon  Roman 
Catholics,  it  is  curious  to  note  how  Protestants  com- 
plain of  the  fruitage  of  the  theories  which  most  of 
them  adopt.  Roman  Catholics  have  brought  to  full 
harvest  the  theory  that  the  Sabbath  was  only  a 
JewivSh  institution,  and  that  the  Sunday  has  taken 
its  place  by  virtue  of  custom  and  the  authority  of 
the  church.  Although  Puritan  Protestants  broke 
a^vay  from  this  theory  for  a  time,  they  have  always 
held  to  the  first  and  fundamental  factor  in  the 
theory,  viz.,  that  the  Sabbath  is  "Jewish,"  and  not 
binding  on  Christians.  On  that  basis  the  harvest 
of  which  the  Congregationalist  complains  is  inevit- 
able. 

COMMISSIONER  WRIGHT'S  REPORT. 

In  1885  appeared  the  Sixteenth  Annual  Report 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics,  by  Car- 
roll D.  Wright,  Chief  of  the  Bureau.  It  is  not  speci- 
fically from  Congregational  sources,  but  it  was  so 
closely  connected  with  Congregational  Massachu- 
setts, and  had  such  a  bearing  on  the  Sunday  c[ues- 
tion  among  Congregationalists,  that  we  place  some 
of  the  facts  brought  out  in  the  report  here.  It  de- 
voted seventv-five  pages  to  the  question  of  Sunday 
labor  in  the  state.  It  w^as  minute,  careful,  and  in 
the  highest  degree  important.  It  did  not  attempt 
to  deal  w4th  the  religious  phases  of  the  question,  di- 


28  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

rcctl\',  but  the  facts  presented  had  an  immense  bear- 
ing on  the  religious  and  moral  aspects  of  the  situa- 
tion. The  report  opened  the  consideration  of  that 
part  relating  to  Sunday  as  follows:  "The  great 
and  constant  increase  in  Sunday  labor  and  the  inter- 
est felt  in  its  effect  upon  the  men  engaged  in  it,  as 
well  as  the  moi'al  effect  upon  the  community,  has 
given  the  matter  an  economic  and  ethical  impor- 
tance w^hich  places  it  among  the  leading  phases  of 
modern  industrial  life. 

The  publication  of  the  report  made  a  decided 
sensation  in  Boston,  and  elsewhere.  A  correspond- 
ent of  the  Chiistian  Union,  wanting  from  Boston  in 
November,  1885,  said:  "We  learn  from  the  report 
that  the  largest  and  most  important  organized  in- 
dustry in  the  Commonwealth,  in  which  Sunday  la- 
bor is  systematically  performed,  is  that  of  the  steam 
railroads.  The  aggregate  number  of  persons  thus 
emploved  is  9,256.  Sunday  trains  began  in  a  small 
and  irregular  w^ay  in  1836.  The  one  train  that  has 
run  without  interruption  until  the  present  time  was 
started  in  1853.  There  was  no  rapid  increase  in  the 
number  of  Sunday  trains  for  the  next  twenty  years." 
Then  follows  a  table  of  trains,  and  the  correspond- 
ent adds :  "As  will  be  seen  by  this  table,  the  three 
Sunday  excursion  trains,  which  were  begun  in  No- 
vember, 1860,  for  the  convenience  of  the  church- 
going  people,  and  the  number  of  which,  in  ten  years, 
barely  more  than  doubled,  led  to  the  introduction 
in  the  next  fourteen  years,  aided  somewhat  by  the 
milk  trains,  of  one  hundred  and  ninety -three  Sunday 


CONGREGATIOXALIST   TESTIMONY.  29 

excursion   trains  running  both   ways  on   all    roads 
centering  in  Boston." 

Turning  to  the  report,  we  find  other  pertinent 
items  as  follows : 

"the    growth   of    the  SUNDAY    'CHURCH 
TRAINS.'  " 

"  The  first  local  Sunday  trains  in  Massachusetts 
were  put  on  in  November,  1860,  between  Brookline 
and  Boston.  Certain  well-to-do  people,  who  were 
members  of  churches  in  Boston,  had  moved  out  to 
Brookline,  but  wished  to  retain  their  membership 
and  continue  to  attend  church  in  Boston  as  formerl3^ 
As  Mr.  Ginery  Twichell,  the  Superintendent  and  con- 
trolling power  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  road, 
was  a  resident  of  Brookline,  they  applied  to  him  to 
put  on  a  Sunda\^  local,  as  there  had  already  been 
week-da3^  locals  for  a  number  of  3'ears.  It  being  un- 
lawful to  run  any  but  United  States  mail  trains  on 
Sunday,  Mr.  Twichell  hesitated  a  long  time  before 
granting  their  request.  He  was  a  public -spirited 
man,  however,  and  felt  a  pride  in  using  the  resources 
at  his  command  to  oblige  his  fellow-citizens.  He, 
therefore,  yielded  to  the  steadily  increasing  pressure 
of  their  requests,  and  put  on  two  trains  each  way. 
These  were  announced  in  the  Boston  Daily  Adver- 
tiser of  Monday,  November  26,  1860.  These  trains 
being  unlawful,  special  pains  were  taken  to  guard 
against  accident,  and  as  soon  as  possible  the  right 
was  secured  from  the  Post  Office  Department  to 
make  them  mail  trains,  so  that  they  might  thus  be- 
come lawful. 


30  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

As  soon  as  the  trains  began  to  run,  a  new  move- 
ment of  travel  was  developed  ;  for  it  was  found  that 
people  who  had  formerly  lived  in  Brookline  but  were 
now  living  in  Boston  desired  to  attend  their  old 
church,  and  were  using  the  newly-started  trains  for 
that  purpose.  Thus  it  came  about  that  these  Sun- 
day trains  were  carrying  people  both  ways  to 
church,     (pp.  16,  17.) 

"  To  sum  up  the  whole  matter  in  brief,  it  can  be 
safely  asserted  that  all  the  facts,  so  far  as  ascer- 
tained, show  that  the  inauguration  and  establish- 
ment of  the  Sunday  local  train  system  on  the  rail- 
roads which  center  in  Boston  was  wholly  the  v^rork 
of  church-going  people,  and  that  it  was,  also,  for 
their  convenience  in  going  to  special  churches  to 
which  the\^  had  become  attached.  It  was  not  called 
for,  however,  b^^  any  necessity  in  enabling  them  to 
attend  upon  the  public  worship  of  God.  Moreover, 
the  prominence  which  we  have  given  to  the  Boston 
and  Worcester  (now  Boston  and  Albany)  railroad 
in  this  matter  is  just ;  for  not  only  did  it  run  Sunday 
locals  for  more  than  ten  years  before  any  other  road, 
but  the  general  testimony  is  that  it  was  the  example 
and  influence  of  this,  the  most  powerful  road  coming 
into  Boston,  which  finally  made  it  necessary  for  the 
other  roads  to  yield  to  the  importunity  of  their 
patrons  and  do  as  that  road  was  doing. 

"After  a  time,  however,  a  change  began  to  ap- 
pear in  thenatureof  the  travel  on  these  Sunday  local 
trains.  The  nature  of  this  change  will  appear  more 
plainh'  if  we  pass  at  once  to  those  roads  where  this 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  31 

new  movement  has  had  its  greatest  expansion,  viz., 
the  Eastern,  and  the  Boston,  Revere  Beach  and  Lynn 
railroads."     (p.  19.) 

In  the  matter  of  "horse  cars  "  on  Sunda\^,  the 
same  general  facts  appear.  After  giving  the  table 
covering  this  branch  of  the  service,  the  report  adds  : 

"  By  an  examination  of  the  recapitulation  of  this 
table,  it  will  be  seen  that  of  a  total  of  3,650  persons 
emploA^ed  on  all  the  horse  railroads  in  the  state, 
2,958,  or  81.04  per  cent,  are  at  work  on  Sunda3^  un- 
der the  present  S3^stem  of  horse  car  service,  and  also 
that  of  this  whole  number,  703,  or  19.26  per  cent, 
would  have  to  be  at  v^ork  on  Sunday  if  no  horse 
cars  were  run  on  that  da  v." 


The  chief  reasons  advanced  by  the  officials  of 
the  various  horse  railroads  as  the  causes  w^hich  have 
led  to  the  running  of  horse  cars  on  Sunda^^  may  be 
briefly  summarized  as  follows  : 

"  The  leader  in  the  movement  to  have  horse  cars 
run  on  Sunday  on  the  Cambridge  road,  the  oldest 
horse  railroad  in  the  Commonwealth,  was  a  church 
member,  and  the  specific  ground  on  which  he  pressed 
the  case  was  that  accommodations  might  be  provid- 
ed for  himself  and  family,  and  for  others  as  well,  to 
go  to  church.  On  that  same  road  a  special  car  is 
now  leased  each  Sunday  by  certain  people  to  carry 
them  to  and  from  church." 

In  the  case  of  the  Middlesex  road,  urgent  appeals 
came  from  the  same  source.     Church-going  people, 


32  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

by  persistent  effort,  inaugurated,  for  their  own 
accommodation  in  going  to  church,  the  Sunday 
horse  car  SA'stem  on  this  road. 

"  The  Metropolitan  Railroad  Company  began  to 
run  Sunday  cars  because  'requests  were  made  to 
carry  passengers  to  the  churches,  and  scholars  to 
the  Sunday-schools.' 

'*  The  Lynn  and  Boston  railroad  put  on  Sunday- 
horse  cars  because  they  felt  that  the  public  needed 
the  accommodation;  moreover,  other  roads  were 
running  on  Sunday,  and  the  management  of  this 
road  had  no  doubt  but  that  it  would  pay.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  Sunday  is  the  best  paying  da3-  in  the 
week. 

•'As  regards  the  South  Boston  and  Charles  River 
railroads,  a  similar  storv  is  told.  The  manager  of 
these  roads  believed  the  people  required  this  service, 
and  also  found  that  it  would  pay  to  run  cars  on 
Sunday-. 

"  In  the  same  way,  the  answer  from  the  officials 
of  the  horse  railroads  outside  of  Boston  is  that  the 
public  demanded  it.  In  the  case  of  the  Northampton 
railroad  it  was  reported  that  '  church  people  said  it 
was  a  duty  that  the  road  owed  to  the  public  to  run 
cars  on  Sunday  to  take  people  to  church.'  The  New 
Bedford  and  Fairhaven  railroad,  in  response  to  this 
question,  said  it  was  at  the  'general  request  of 
church-going  people.'  One  of  our  ministers  remarked 
that '  it  was  not  an^^  worse  for  the  officers  of  a  street 
railway-  company  to  employ  conductors  and  drivers 
on   Sunda3'  than   it  was   for  his  deacons  to  employ- 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY,  33 

their  hired  men   to   harness  their  horses  and   drive 
them  to  and  from  church.' 

''Briefly  stated,  church-going  people  for  church- 
going  purposes  are  the  prime  cause  of  the  running  of 
horse    cars    on    Sunday    in    this    Commonwealth.''' 
(pp.  48,  49.    Italics  onrs.) 

We  have  not  space  to  follow  the  details  of  this 
report  farther.  They  will  repay  study  on  the  part 
of  any  one  who  desires  to  look  carefully  into  the 
problem  of  Sunday -keeping  and  its  future.  One  im- 
portant point  appears  in  the  report,  showing  that 
one  prominent  argument  in  favor  of  Sunday-keeping 
is  set  aside  b^^  the  facts.  The  report  shows  that  the 
general  effect  of  all  this  Sunday  labor  does  not  im- 
pair the  health,  nor  lessen  the  wages  of  the  workers. 
The  summar\^  of  the  report  indicates  that  there  was 
in  1885  a  total  of  720,774  persons  employed  in 
Massachusetts  on  Sunday,  of  whom  546,591  were 
males  and  174,183  females.  The  closing  pages  of 
the  report  set  forth  the  following  conclusions  : 

"  The  evolution  of  the  modern  industrial  system 
has  not  resulted  directly  in  the  use  of  Sunday  labor, 
Sunday  labor  being  the  result  of  other  forces  acting 
on  the  public  mind. 

"Undoubtedly  when  systematic  w^ork  for  the 
production  of  wealth  is  done  on  Sunday,  that  is, 
w^hen  the  w^orker  labors  seven  days  in  the  week  in 
the  production  of  w^ealth,  there  is  a  powerful  and 
probably  an  irresistible  tendency  to  break  down 
the  rate  of  pay,  so  that  the  total  amount  of  the 
seven  days'  wage  will  be  no  greater  ultimately  than 


34  DECAnENCE   OF   SUNDAY, 

the  six  days'  wage  was,  or  would  have  been.  But 
where  systematic  work  in  personal  service  is  per- 
formed, there  is  no  such  tendency  to  break  down  the 
daily  rate  of  wage,  for  the  person  who  performs  this 
class  of  labor  for  seven  days  receives  a  full  day's  pay 
more  than  he  would  if  he  worked  but  six  da3^s,  and 
so  the  average  day's  pay  is  in  no  w^ay  diminished. 
It  is  also  probably  true  that  when  S3^stematic  pro- 
ductive labor  is  performed  on  Sunda^^  there  is  a 
marked  deterioration  in  the  vital  powers,  but  when 
such  labor  is  performed  in  personal  service  such 
physical  deterioration  does  not  appear. 

"  The  weaA-er  who  should  try  to  tend  his  looms 
steadily  for  a  thousand  daA'S  in  succession  would 
probably  break  down  completely  in  health  long 
before  the  time  was  passed,  while  on  the  contrar^^ 
the  horse-car  conductor  goes  through  the  whole 
term  without  losing  a  daj^,  and  finishes  the  period 
with  vigor  unimpaired. 

"From  the  facts  presented,  it  appears  that 
nearly  all  systematic  work  which  is  performed  on 
Sunday  in  this  Commonwealth,  certainly  where  men 
w^ork  in  bodies,  is  personal  service  rendered  bj^  man 
to  his  fellow-men,  and  not  to  any  considerable  ex- 
tent for  the  production  of  material  wealth.  This 
being  the  case,  we  tind  that  Sunday  labor  is  almost 
w^holly  and  directly  caused  by  the  personal  demands 
of  one  man  or  one  class  of  men  upon  another  class. 
The  service  rendered  on  Sunday  is  rendered  then 
because  the  person  to  be  served  exacts  it  on  that 
particular    day.     Probably  every   letter  and   every 


COXGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  35 

passenger  could  be  carried  on  week  days  if  every 
letter-sender  and  everj^  passenger  preferred  to  have 
it  so ;  and  since  nothing,  in  the  nature  of  things  or  in 
the  necessities  of  industry,  or  in  the  progress  of  the 
modern  industrial  system,  but  onh^  the  will  of  man, 
causes  nearly  all  the  systematic  labor  that  is  per- 
formed on  Sunday,  it  follows  that  Sunday  labor  will 
cease  when  the  individual  man  prefers  to  have  all 
personal  services  rendered  him  on  some  other  day." 
(p.  73.) 

Some  most  important  facts  stare  at  the  reader 
from  this  pains-taking  report. 

1.  The  religions  people  of  Massachusetts  have 
no  conscientious  scruples  against  demanding  labor 
on  the  part  of  those  whom  they  desire  to  use  as 
public  or  private  servants.  Much  of  the  present 
Sunday-desecration  was  begun  in  the  interest  of 
church-going. 

2.  The  great  majority  of  the  people  of  that  Puri- 
tan Commonwealth  do  not  regard  Sunday  as  a  Sab- 
bath, but  as  a  day  for  such  recreation  as  best  con- 
duces to  their  comfort.  There  is  very  little  conscien- 
tious regard  for  Sunday  as,  in  an3^  sense,  a  sacred 
day. 

3.  The  swift  increase  of  the  tide  of  Sunday  labor 
since  1885  indicates  the  destruction  of  the  last  bar- 
riers which  protected  the  New  England  Sunda}^  of 
other  days.     That  is  gone  forever. 

The  revelations  made  in  the  report  of  Commis- 
sioner Wright,  and  other  similar  facts,  raised  the 
fears  of  the  friends   of  Sunda3'  to  such  a  point  that 


36  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

notes  of  warning  and  renewed  efforts  to  enforce  the 
Sunday  laws  w^ere  abundant  in  the  following  year. 
On  the  15th  of  FebruarA^,  1886,  in  the  prelude  to  his 
Monday  lecture,  in  Boston,  Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  with 
dramatic  mien,  said:  "Save  Sunday  and  we  can 
save  the  Republic;  otherwise,  not."  At  the  same 
time  he  said  that  he  had  lately  attended  service  in  a 
stately  church  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  River 
where  only  six  persons  were  present  to  hear  a  most 
admirable  discourse.  On  the  same  afternoon  in  the 
city  of  Chicago  3,000  people  paid  a  dollar  each  to 
hear  a  popular  "infidel"  lecture,  and  30,000  persons 
attended  a  horse  race  and  the  show  of  BuiFalo  Bill. 

EFFORTS  TO   SAVE    SUNDAY   BY   CIVIL  LAW   IX 
MASSACHUSETTS. 

From  1884  to  1886  special  efforts  were  made  to 
check  the  drift  downward,  by  attempting  to  enforce 
the  Sunday  laws.  In  1883  the  Supreme  Court  of 
that  state  had  rendered  a  decision  which,  indirectly, 
declared  the  running  of  street  cars  on  Sunday  to  be 
illegal.  It  was  in  the  case  of  W.  W.  Day  against  the 
Highland  Street  Railway  Company,  in  an  action  to 
recover  damages  for  personal  injury.  (See  Massa- 
chusetts Reports,  Vol.  135;  1883,  p.  113  ff.)  On 
Sunday,  June  20,  1880,  the  plaintiff  was  doing  dut3^ 
as  conductor  on  a  car  of  the  Metropolitan  Railway 
Company.  While  collecting  fares,  standing  on  the 
steps  of  an  "  open  car,"  he  was  injured  by  a  car  of 
the  Highland  Company-,  as  it  passed  on  a  near-by 
track.  The  case  went  to  the  Supreme  Court,  on 
appeal,  and  a  full  bench  decided  that  since  the  car  on 


COXGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  37 

which  Day  was  at  work  was  not  run  as  a  ''  work  of 
necessit3\  nor  of  mercy,"  that  he  was  doing  an 
illegal  act,  in  the  doing  of  w^hich  the  position  of  his 
body  contributed  to  his  injury,  and,  therefore,  he 
could  not  recover  damages.  Here  is  the  substance 
of  the  decision  as  announced  b\^  Judge  Colburn  : 

"  We  take  occasion  prompth'  to  sa^^  that  if  the 
object  of  the  law  was  to  compel  the  observance  of 
Sunday  as  a  religious  institution  we  would  not  hesi- 
tate to  declare  it  to  be  a  violation  of  the  above  con- 
stitutional prohibition.  It  would  violate  equally 
the  religious  liberty  of  the  Christian,  the  Jew  and 
the  infidel,  none  of  whom  can  be  compelled  by  law 
to  comply  with  any  merely  religious  observance, 
whether  it  accords  with  his  faith  and  conscience  or 
not.  With  rare  exceptions,  the  American  authorities 
concur  in  this  view.  .  .  .  The  statute  is  to  be  judged 
of  precisely  as  if  it  had  selected  for  the  day  of  rest 
any  da^^  of  the  week,  other  than  Sunday;  audits 
validity  is  not  to  be  questioned,  because  in  the  exer- 
cise of  a  wise  discretion  it  has  chosen  that  day  which 
a  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  state,  under  the 
sanctions  of  their  religious  faith,  already  voluntarily 
observe  as  a  day  of  rest." 

The  Independent,  New  York,  remarking  upon 
the  decision,  said:  "This  is  an  exceedingly  lucid 
statement  of  the  theory  which  underlies  all  legisla- 
tion that  requires  the  suspension  of  ordinary  labor 
on  Sunday.  The  object  is  not  to  enforce  religious 
observance  of  any  kind,  but  simply  to  establish  a 
uniform  day  of  rest  for  the  general  good  of  the  whole 


38  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

people;  and  thi.s  is  no  interference  with  the  religious 
liberty  of  anybod3^" 

Both  the  decision  and  the  comments  were  unqnes- 
tionabh^  correct.  The3^  indicate  the  only  possible 
basis  on  which  Sunday  laws  can  rest.  Such  decis- 
ions are,  however,  w^holly  revolutionary.  They 
destroy  once  and  forever  the  conception  of  Sunday 
legislation,  as  embodied  in  the  original  English  law^s 
and  in  all  the  Colonial  and  earlier  state  law^s  of  the 
United  States.  More  significant  still  is  the  fact  that 
these  judicial  decisions  remove  entirely  the  basis  on 
which  the  ''Sabbath  reformers  "  make  their  earnest 
and  continuous  appeals  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
"Sabbath  laws." 

In  connection  with  this  agitation,  and  in  the 
view  of  the  desecration  of  Sunday  by  railroads,  the 
Congregationalist  published  the  following  lurid 
sentences  from  a  correspondent:  "A  more  disas- 
trous Baalism  was  never  tolerated  in  the  histor^^  of 
man  than  this  railroading  upon  the  Sabbath-day, 
whether  by  horse-power  or  steam— the  smoke  and 
din  of  a  dirty  train  hurled  like  a  screeching  bomb 
through  its  hallowed  horizon.  Such  blasphemy 
gives  the  loose  rein  to  every  inclination  to  infringe 
upon  the  wholesome  restraints  that  attach  them- 
selves to  the  sacred  day.  This,  alone,  is  enough  to 
cause  the  flood-gates  of  vice  and  immorality  to  be 
opened  upon  us.  It  gives  impetus  to  all  manner  of 
strife  and  contention  and  unlawful  competition  in 
business  and  trade.  God-fearing  men  w^ill  clear  their 
skirts   of  this   Sabbath  railroading,   as  honest  men 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  39 

did  their  consciences  b}^  not  luxuriating  under  slav- 
er^^'s  cotton,  nor  fattening  upon  its  cheap  sugar." 

The  agitation  resulting  from  this  decision  and 
the  failure  of  the  efforts  to  check  the  running  of  the 
street  cars,  and  other  forms  of  business,  under  cover 
of  the  decision,  showed  that  a  radical  change  had 
taken  place  in  public  opinion  as  to  Sunday  laws. 
Christians  and  non-Christians  united  in  the  declara- 
tion that  all  religious  basis  for  enforcing  the  Sunday 
laws  must  be  eliminated.  That  was  equivalent  to 
saying  that  they  could  not  be  enforced  at  all,  unless 
in  some  unimportant  and  valueless  instances.  That 
Sunday  laws  ought  not  to  be  enforced  on  religious 
grounds  is  true.  But  it  is  also  true  that  they  have 
never  been  successfull\^  enforced  on  any  other 
grounds.  The  zeal  of  conscience,  or  the  bigotry  of 
intolerance,  are  the  only  motives  which  have  ever 
enforced  such  laws.  But  the  whole  effort  was 
thought-provoking,  and  it  revealed  the  weakness  of 
the  general  regard  for  Sunday  as  fully  as  the  facts  of 
Commissioner  Wright's  report  had  done  the  previ- 
ous year. 

Writing  of  this  decision  of  the  Massachusett's 
Court,  the  Advance  said  that  the  effort  to  enforce 
the  laws  w^ould  result  in  an  effort  to  repeal  them. 
It  also  reported  that  the  Congregational  Club  had 
appointed  a  committee  of  three  lawyers  to  act  for  it 
in  opposition  to  the  repeal.  It  was  reported  that 
many  clergymen  in  Boston  were  not  in  favor  of  the 
effort  to  enforce  the  laws  because  the  failure  to  do 
so   would  weaken  the  cause  of  Sundav  still  more. 


40  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

The  Congregationalist  saw  this  result,  and  said : 
*'  Let  us  then  hasten  slowly  in  all  this,  and  if  we  are 
to  have  a  revision  of  the  Sunday  laws,  let  that  revis- 
ion be  in  the  interest,  not  of  socialism  and  anarchy, 
but  of  an  intelligent  and  humane  Christianity." 
Speaking-  of  the  situation,  the  New  York  Tribune  for 
Nov.  6,  1886,  said  :  "  Additional  interest  is  imparted 
to  the  Sunda\^  question  as  it  is  now  being  agitated 
from  the  Boston  point  of  view  by  decision  of  the 
Siipreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  touching  Sunday' 
horse-cars.  The  Court  decides  that  they  cannot  be 
legally  run  on  that  day.  '  We  are  of  the  opinion,' 
says  Judge  Colburn,  'that  a  car  so  run  is  in  viola- 
tion of  law,  though  some  of  its  passengers  may  be 
lawfully  traveling.  It  is  not  within  our  province  to 
determine  the  wisdom  or  expediency  of  the  law%  or 
how  far  there  has  been  a  change  in  public  sentiment 
in  relation  to  the  proper  manner  of  observing  the 
Lord's-day.  These  considerations  are  for  the  legis- 
lature.' Of  course  the  horse-car  people  will  petition 
the  next  legislature  for  relief,  so  that  this  phase  of 
the  Sunday  question  bidsfairtobeprett\''  thoroughly 
discussed  before  the  winter  is  over." 

Nothing  came  of  all  this  except  an  increase  of 
liberal  sentiment  and  practice.  Up  to  the  present 
writing — 1898 — the  disregard  for  Sunday  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  in  all  New  England,  has  gane  for- 
ward with  increasing  rapidity  and  power.  The 
character  of  the  Supreme  Court  decision,  and  the 
failure  to  gain  lost  ground  for  Sunday'  under  it,  gave 
double  emphasis  to  the  depth  of  the  decay  of  regard 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  41 

for  Sunday  in  the  home  of  New  England   Puritan- 
ism. 

In  1887  the  Congregational  Record  published 
several  articles  on  the  Sunday  question,  from  vari- 
ous correspondents,  among  whom  was  Rev.  Wash- 
ington Gladden.  He  spoke  with  great  plainness  of 
the  extent  to  which  the  lower  elements  in  society. 
had  taken  possession  of  Sunday  as  an  irreligious 
holiday,  and  declared  this:  That  if  anything  could 
be  done  to  "check  this,  the  spread  of  this  plague  of 
vice  and  irreligion  and  lawlessness  and  anarchy  in 
our  cities,  it  cannot  be  done  too  soon."  He  closed 
with  these  w^ords  :  "  We  call  it  the  Lord's-day,  but 
does  it  belong  to  him?  Surely  it  is  the  day  when 
the  forces  of  the  adversary  work  most  busiW.  It  is 
the  day  when  those  that  Hje  in  wait  to  ruin  souls  are 
all  alert  and  intent  upon  their  prey.  A  great  deal 
more  moral  injury  is  done  on  this  da\^  than  on  any 
other  day  in  the  week.  And  often,  as  I  go  about  the 
streets  of  m^^  own  city,  and  see  with  what  iiendish 
and  fatal  enterprise  the  evil  one  is  plying  his  arts  of 
destruction,  I  am  prone  to  cr3^  out,  '  W'ho  will  come 
to  the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord 
against  the  mighty?'  Where  are  all  the  thousands 
of  Christian  disciples  in  this  great  city?  What  are 
they  doing  to  counteract  this  mischief?  A  few  earn- 
est souls  in  every  church  are  doing  what  the^^  can, 
but  w^here  are  all  the  rest?  That  is  the  burning  Sun- 
day question.     May  God  help  you  to  answer  it." 

The  darkest  shadows  in  this  picture  are  made  by 
the  attitude  of  Christians.    W^hen  all  the  testimony 


42  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

is  in,  there  is  no  escape  from  the  fact  that  Sunday  is 
being  slain  in  the  house  of  its  friends,  or  rather,  Sun- 
day is  carrying  its  friends  into  ruin  because  of  the 
essential  error  whi^h  underlies  the  theories  on  which 
it  rests. 

In  the  Advance  for  July  7,  1887,  Rev.  Geo.  C. 
-Adams,  writing  of  Sunday  in  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
described  the  fearful  harvest  of  evil  which  it  had 
gathered.  He  contrasted  it  with  Sunday  in  New 
Enofland,  and  averred  that  the  West  was  far  more 
debased  as  to  Sunday  than  the  East.  Reading  what 
was  said  of  the  East  by  others,  it  seems  difficult  to 
see  the  case  as  Dr.  Adams  did.  Of  the  effect  of  the 
popular  disregard  for  Sunday  on  religion  he  said: 
"  One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  church 
work  in  St.  Louis  has  alwa^^s  been  the  fact  that  we 
have  no  Sabbath.  .  .  .  Under  the  circumstances  it  is  a 
wonder  that  any  aggressive  work  can  be  done  success- 
fully b\^  the  churches,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  every 
year  finds  a  great  procession  of  members  of  the 
churches,  drawn  away  by  the  spirit  of  worldliness, 
exchanging  the  church  and  the  Bible-school  for  the 
theatre  and  the  ball-ground,  and  becoming  entirely 
dead  to  all  vows  of  fidelity  to  the  Master." 

July  12,  1888,  the  Congregationalist  reported 
that  yacht  racing,  and  similar  sports,  on  Sunday, 
were  popular  and  prevalent  in  and  around  Boston. 
It  said  that  these  sports  made  no  distinction  between 
Sunday  and  other  days,  and  that  church  members 
were  much  involved  in  these  things. 

In   1892   the  Advance  reported  with   favorable 


CONOR  EGATIONALIST  TESTIMONY.  43 

comment  the  strong  words  of  Bishop  Ninde,  at  the 
Methodist  Conference,  concerning  the  comphcity  of 
Christians  with  Sunday-desecration.  The  Bishop's 
testimony  will  be  found  in  chapter  second — Meth- 
odist testimony.  Few  things,  if  any,  could  show 
how  regard  for  Sunday  had  departed  from  the  home 
of  the  Puritan  faith,  more  than  the  summary  given 
below,  of  facts  presented  by  A.  P.  Foster,  D.  D.,  of 
the  editorial  staff  of  the  Advance,  in  that  paper  for 
March  30,  1893.  He  declared  that  Massachusetts, 
once  first  in  morals,  is  now  the  last  in  New  England 
in  respect  to  Sabbath  law  and  Sabbath  practice. 
The  license  laws  of  the  state,  he  affirmed,  permit  the 
licensing  of  "Sabbath-breaking."  It  seems  that 
according  to  law  in  Massachusetts,  steam,  gas  and 
electricity  may  be  manufactured  on  Sunday  ior  light, 
heat  and  power;  the  telegraph  and  telephone  may 
be  used;  horses,  yachts  and  boats  may  be  let;  news- 
papers may  be  manufactured,  transported  and  sold  ; 
butter  and  cheese  may  be  made;  public  bath-houses 
may  be  kept  open;  food  in  bakeries  may  be  made 
and  sold  before  10  A.  M.,  and  between  4  and  6.30  P. 
M. ;  steamboats  and  railroad  trains  may  be  run 
"as  the  public  necessity  and  convenience  may 
require,"  having  regard  to  the  due  observance  of  the 
da3^  The  deep  significance  of  these  general  state- 
ments concerning  Sunday  lawlessness  in  Massa- 
chausetts  cannot  be  over-estimated.  Massachusetts 
originalh^  had  the  most  rigid  civil  laws  concerning 
Sunday.  The  earlier  laws,  and  practices,  covered 
the  time  from   "sunset   on  Saturday  to  sunset   on 


44  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

SLinda}'."  During  this  time  all  business  and  recrea- 
tion were  forbidden,  with  a  strictness  more  than 
"  Mosaic."  If  Sunda}'^  law^s  are  of  supreme  value  in 
preventing  disregard  for  the  da^^  how  has  it  come 
to  pass  that  this  legislation,  which  was  once  sup- 
ported by  such  public  conscience  as  insured  its 
enforcement,  has  not  only  fallen  into  disuse,  but  has 
been  actually  repealed  ?  Do  men  expect  to  begin 
with  this  ruin  and  accomplish  reformation  through 
a  system  of  laws  which  have  not  only  failed  to  check 
the  downward  drift,  but  have  been  actually  swept 
away?  Can  the  fragments  of  the  overthrown  sys- 
tem be  drawn  from  their  place  in  the  mud  of  the 
overflowing  deluge,  and  be  made  into  barriers  which 
will  turn  back  the  tide,  and  restore  the  drowned 
conscience  of  the  state? 

Supporting  the  statements  of  the  Advance,  the 
Congregationalist  —  May  1,  1893  —  said  :  '*  The 
sacredness  of  the  Lord's-day  appears  to  be  less 
regarded  every  3^ear.  As  the  spring  opens  there  is  a 
fresh  impulse  on  every  hand  to  set  aside  its  distinct 
features.  Excursions  invite.  Summer  houses  are  to 
be  selected,  and  Sunday  offers  opportunity  for  it. 
A  long  bic\'cle  ride  is  specially  attractive.  The  family 
are  invited  to  visit  relatives,  and  it  takes  the  whole 
day.  At  least,  the  house  piazza,  the  Sundaj^  paper 
and  the  novel  set  u]3  their  attractions  against  pulolic 
worship.  The  most  painful  fact  about  this  gradual 
loss  of  the  Lord's-day  is  that  its  sacredness  is  being 
destroA^ed  by  the  Lord's  followers.  If  every  person 
lived   up  to  his  convictions  on  this  subject,  the  day 


CONGKEGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  45 

\^  ould  be  protected.  Its  value  is  lost  through  Chris- 
tians doing  what  they  would  not  wish  other  Chris- 
tians to  do  on  that  day.  If  Sunday  should  cease  to 
be  the  Lord's-day  it  would  be  because  Christians 
have  resisted  the  pleadings  of  their  own  consciences 
concerning  it.  No  legislature  can  Christianize  the 
w^eekly  rest  day.  It  can  only  free  the  da}-^  from  the 
burdens  of  continuous  toil.  But  if  each  Christian 
keeps  it  as  in  his  best  moments  it  might  be  kept,  it 
cannot  be  destro3xd." 

If  these  were  the  words  of  an  alarmist  or  of  an 
enemy  of  Christianity,  they  might  be  passed  by.  On 
the  contrary  the  Congregationalist  stands  first 
among  the  papers  of  its  denomination,  and  it  is  not 
second  to  an\^  in  clearness  of  vision  and  well-bal- 
anced conclusions  on  general  themes.  Its  words  are 
those  of  a  friend;  but  they  are  heavy  with  sorrow 
and  clouded  with  doubt  and  fear. 

In  the  following  summer,  1894,  the  growing  dis- 
regard for  Sunday  again  prompted  its  friends  to 
some  efforts  for  enforcing  Sunday  laws.  Concerning 
that  effort,  the  Advance  and  the  Congregationalist 
spoke.  The  former,  under  ''The  Sabbath  Around 
Boston,"  said  :  "  The  day  by  no  means  receives  the 
good  old  Puritan  observance  of  Cotton  Mather's 
da3^  The  time  was  when  the  ferries  did  not  run  and 
the  gate  across  the  neck  was  closed  on  the  Sabbath, 
so  that  travel  in  or  out  of  Boston  was  absolutely 
impossible.  To-day  on  a  hot  Sabbath  crowds  pour 
out  in  every  direction.  Recently  when  the  city  was 
melting  in  the  nineties,  3,000  excursionists  gathered 


46  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

at  Newport,  R.  I.,  on  Sunday,  and  50,000,  it  is  esti- 
mated, at  Crescent  Beach  in  Revere.  But  the  most 
noticeable  feature  about  Sunda3^  has  been  the  march 
up  hill  and  down  again  of  Mayor  Bancroft,  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  the  ministers  of  the  city  in  the  endeavor 
to  enforce  the  Sunday  laws.  The  ministers  called 
the  attention  of  the  Mayor  to  the  fact  that  the  Sun- 
day ordinances  were  not  enforced,  and  asked  him  to 
see  that  the\^  were.  They  had  in  mind  the  selling  of 
tobacco  and  soda  by  druggists,  the  delivery  of  ice- 
cream at  private  houses,  and  the  like.  The  Ma3^or 
delared  his  willingness  to  enforce  the  law,  whatever 
it  might  be.  Complaint  was  made  against  a  person 
delivering  ice-cream  on  Sunday,  which  the  city  solic- 
itor had  declared  a  clear  violation  of  the  ordinance. 
The  judge,  however,  refused  to  receive  the  complaint 
under  the  ruling  that  ice-cream  was  a  necessity  in 
the  eye  of  the  law.  Then  the  drug-stores,  which  had 
closed  the  week  before,  opened  again  and  some  sold 
soda  and  cigars  as  usual.  Evidence  was  taken 
against  them,  but  was  not  presented  in  court,  and 
now  the  Ma3^or  declares  that  in  the  face  of  the  decis- 
ion of  the  judge  he  can  do  nothing.  Some  of  the  daily 
papers  are  gleeful,  and  declare  the  Puritan  days  are 
over,  and  that  ministers  had  better  learn  the  fact. 
It  is  an  unfortunate  business,  seemingly  calculated 
to  give  more  license  to  Sabbath-desecration.  And 
yet  it  may  do  good  in  the  end  by  leading  to  more 
careful  distinctions,  both  in  the  law  and  in  public 
sentiment." 

The  CongregationaUst,  speaking  of  this  effort  at 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  47 

Cambridge,  said  :  ''According  to  the  advice  of  sev- 
eral of  the  Boston  daily  newspapers,  the  better  way 
is  to  let  the  laws  remain  on  the  statute  books,  but 
to  make  no  effort  to  enforce  them.  No  advice  could 
be  worse  than  this.  The  surest  w^ay  to  encourage  dis- 
regard of  law  is  to  teach  the  people  that  some  laws 
are  made  to  satisfy  a  demand  for  them,  but  that 
the3"  are  meant  to  be  a  dead  letter.  Especially 
vicious  is  the  counsel  that  the  enactment  of  any  law 
should  satisfy  the  public  conscience,  leaving  men  free 
to  ignore  it  in  practice.  The  counterpart  of  dead 
formality  in  religion  is  dead  law  in  the  administra- 
tion of  government — a  kind  of  state  sanction  of 
h3^pocris3'."  But  when  all  was  said,  whether  of 
pleading  or  condemnation,  the  laws  could  not  be 
enforced,  and  decay  and  desecration  went  on. 

During  all  the  years  between  the  Civil  War  and 
1895,  the  Sunday  newspaper  grew  with  magic  speed 
and  prodigious  power.  But  1895  witnessed  a 
crowning  stroke  of  diplomacy  on  their  part.  More 
concerning  it  will  be  found  in  the  chapter  on '' Re- 
sponsibility of  Christians,"  but  the  following  from 
the  Congregationalist  of  Aug.  22,  1895,  is  pertinent 
here:  "An  association  has  recently  been  formed, 
with  headquarters  in  Boston,  for  the  purpose  of  col- 
lecting sermons  for  Sunday  newspapers.  '  We  are 
asked  to  appeal  to  ministers  to  furnish  material,  on 
the  ground  that  Sunday  papers  have  come  to  stay 
and  that  we  ought  to  get  into  them  as  much  good 
reading  as  possible.  This  movement  to  secure  the 
endorsement  of  the  Sunday  newspaper  b^-  the  clergy 


4-8  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

and  their  co-operation  in  circulating  it  ought  not  to 
deceive  an^^  one.  Ministers  who  give  their  names  to 
this  enterprise  will  do  so  because  the^^  approve  the 
Sunday  press,  not  because  they  seek  to  improve  an 
institution  which  they  believe  to  be  working  harm.' 
Those  who  write  for  the  Sunday  papers  will,  of 
course,  expect  their  people  to  take  it.  We  believe  that 
no  other  institution  has  done  so  much  as  this  one  to 
secularize  the  Lord's-day.  It  sets  the  key-note  of 
the  conversation  during  the  day  in  many  Christian 
families  and  for  the  thoughts  in  the  minds  of  multi- 
tudes of  professing  Christians,  and  that  note  is  far 
from  being  in  harmony  with  Christian  themes.  The 
indorsement  of  the  Sunday  paper  b}^  ministers  and 
churches  maA^  extend  the  circulation,  but  will  do 
little  to  elevate  its  influence." 

In  the  Advance  for  Dec.  15,  1895.  F.  A.  Noble,  D. 
D.,  pastor  of  a  leading  Congregational  church  of 
Chicago,  spoke  ringing  and  brave  words  concerning' 
the  growth  of  Sundaj^-desecration.  Here  are  some  of 
them  :  "  Few  people,  it  is  to  be  feared,  fully  realize  how 
determined  and  wide-spread  are  the  efforts  to  under- 
mine regard  for  the  Lord's-day,  and  how  successful 
these  efforts  have  already  been.  Sunday  newspapers 
and  Sunday  theatres  have  come  to  stay.  Mail  trains 
and  freight  trains  and  elegantly-appointed  passen- 
ger trains  are  regularly  scheduled  for  Sunday.  Busi- 
ness men  plan  to  use  Sunday  for  travel  in  order  to 
save  time.  Excursions  to  sea-side,  mountains  and 
expositions  are  arranged  for  Sunday  as  the  most 
convenient   and   attractive  date  for  starting.     Con- 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  49 

tractors,  when  pressed,  never  hesitate  to  complete 
their  jobs  on  Sunday,  even  though  it  be  the  chapel  of 
a  Christian  University.  Men  and  women  who  go 
much  abroad  bring  back  not  only  the  wine  cup  for 
their  side-boards  and  their  social  gatherings,  but 
modified,  and  often  radically  changed  views  of  the 
proper  observance  of  Sunday,  The  tendencies  w^hich 
work  toward  the  secularization  of  Sunday  are  both 
strong  and  manifold." 

When  the  friends  of  Sunday  speak  thus,  the  fact 
of  its  loss  is  beyond  question. 

CONGREGATIONALISTS  DECLARE  THAT  SUNDAY 
IS  LOST. 

Testimony  from  Congregational  sources  was 
abundant  in  1896.  It  was  dominated  b^^  a  tone  of 
hopelessness.  Open  disregard  for  Sunday  law,  and 
flagrant  acts  of  desecration,  had  increased  as  the 
progress  of  a  heavy  train  does  on  a  down  grade. 
The  inconsistencies  of  Christians  were  noted  more 
and  more,  and  the  charge  that  they  were  mainly 
responsible  for  the  demoralized  state  of  the  Sunday 
question  was  freely  made.  On  the  third  of  June  the 
Advance  sharpened  its  pen  for  the  Mayor  of  Chica- 
go for  "leading  a  procession  of  nearly  six  thousand 
-wheelmen  through  the  streets  of  that  city  on  Sun- 
day, during  the  hours  of  morning  service  in  the 
churches."     This  is  what  the  Advance  wrote : 

"The  outing  was  remarkable  in  many  respects. 
It  had  been  planned  without  regard  to  expense — or 
the  Decalogue ;   and  it  was  conducted  in  as  gentle- 


50  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

manly  a  manner  as  though  Mephistopheles  had  been 
the  marshal  of  the  day.  It  was,  in  part  representa- 
tive of  the  city :  civic  Chicago  on  cycles.  For  at  the 
head  of  the  cycle  anaconda  which  took  Chicago  in 
its  toils  on  Sunday,  May  23,  rode  a  band  of  police- 
men; then  followed  Mayor  Carter  H.  Harrison, 
riding  at  ease  between  President  C.  P.  Root  and  Dr. 
J.  C.  Barclay  ;  and  after  them  came  ten  members  of 
the  Red  Cross  corps — a  strange  place  for  a  cross — 
the  First  Regiment  cycling  club,  mail-carriers 
a- wheel,  thirty-three  clubs  of  various  names,  tan- 
dems, triplets,  quads,  gay  ladies  in  purple  costumes, 
and  2,500  unattached  wheelmen. 

'^  The^^rode  past  churches  and  disturbed  the  wor- 
ship of  congregations.  What  minister  could  expect 
to  hold  the  undivided  attention  of  his  audience, 
while  the  Mayor  of  Chicago  was  pedaling  his  way 
through  the  streets,  and  preaching  a  long-drawn- 
out  sermon  on  Sabbath-breaking,  illustrating  the 
doctrine  by  his  own  practice?  It  was  so  Teutonic 
and  liberal  that  outside  Chicago  burst  into  an 
ecstacy  of  applause.  Every  saloon-keeper  along  the 
line  measured  by  the  wheels  felt  his  heart  warm 
toward  the  Mayor.  He  thought  that  a  man  so  lib- 
eral in  his  sentiments,  a  man  that  could  lead  six 
thousand  cyclers  through  the  Fourth  Command- 
ment, would  not  be  ver^-  hard  on  him  if  he  should 
disregard  inconvenient,  repressive  laws.  Every  man 
and  woman  of  easy  morals  felt  drawn  toward  a 
mayor  who  could  deliberately  desecrate  the  day 
which  Christians  obse^'ve  as  a  day  of  rest   and  wor- 


CONGREGATIONALIST  TESTIMONY.  51 

ship.  Tliey  thowght  that  he  would  be  more  likely  to 
wink  at  their  peccadillos  than  to  sternly  punish 
them." 

One  sentence  from  the  above  demands  re-reading. 
*'Ever3^  saloon-keeper  along  the  lines  measured  by 
the  wheels  felt  his  heart  warm  toward  the  MaA^or." 
That  is  doubly  true.  And  by  the  same  law  of  logic 
and  experience,  all  the  forces  of  evil  which  riot  on 
Sunday  rejoice  whenever  they  hear  or  read  from  the 
words  of  clerg3'men  that  "the  Sabbath  is  only  an 
effete  Jewish  affair,  with  which  we  of  this  dispensa- 
tion have  nothing  to  do."  That  suits  the  lovers  of 
beer  and  blasphemy.  Thej^are  keen  and  logical,  and 
thej^  can  read  the  New  Testament,  if  need  be;  and 
when  the\^  do  thus  read,  they  know  that  if  the 
preachers  who  decry  the  "old  Jewish  Sabbath"  tell 
the  truth,  that  all  talk  about  Sunday  being  a 
sacred  da^^  is  empt3^  sound.  If  good  Dr.  Noble 
were  to  warn  his  people  against  the  doctrines 
of  the  Seventh-day  Baptist  church  of  Chicago, 
each  lover  of  pleasure  on  Sunday  "would  feel 
his  heart  warm"  toward  the  doctor,  because  his 
words  would  help  to  remove  any  lingering  thought 
of  "  Sabbath-breaking"  which  might  be  awakened, 
if,  while  looking  through  the  Bible,  he  should  chance 
to  light  on  the  Ten  Commandments. 

The  deca}'  of  conscience  in  regard  to  Sunday  was 
put  in  a  strong  light  by  the  Advance  in  1897,  in 
these  words : 

"  It  is  an  accepted  fact  that  a  failure  to  respect  the 
sacredness  of  what  we  have  come  to  name  appropri- 


52  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

ately  the  Lord's-day,  is  not  a  serious  offense  against 
the  common  conscience.  Multitudes  of  men  who 
would  not  steal,  neither  be  guilty  of  slander,  unchas- 
tity,  nor  the  hate  which  is  the  substance  of  murder, 
do  not  scruple  to  pervert  the  Sabbath  by  labor,  or 
loafing,  or  riot.  They  are  essentially  wnthout 
enlightened  convictions  of  conscience  in  the  matter. 
How  is  such  a  surprising  fact  to  be  accounted  for? 

"  We  have  an  easy  answer  in  the  common  state- 
ment that  the  man  of  the  world  has  not  the  fear  of 
God  in  all  his  thoughts.  He  that  fears  God,  it  is 
said,  will  reverence  the  day  that  he  has  chosen  for 
his  own  and  blessed ;  the  way,  therefore,  to  protect 
the  Sabbath  is  to  make  men  pious  in  the  substance 
of  their  thinking  or  feeling.  The  answer  is  good ; 
but  it  does  not  reach  the  ground  reason  w4iy  it  is 
that  men  who  will  not  steal,  nor  lie,  nor  commit 
adulter}^  yet  decline  to  turn  their  feet  from  polluting 
the  Sabbath,  and  from  doing  their  pleasure  on  God's 
holy  da3^  Their  inw^ard  thought  seems  to  be  that 
the  law  for  the  Sabbath  is  positive  as  distinct  from 
moral,  that  the  reasons  for  that  law  are  not  laid  in 
nature  as  are  the  laws  protecting  property  and 
reputation,  that  the  reasons  for  the  giving' of  that 
law  have  ])assed,  and  that  God  either  does  not  know 
what  the  Sabbath -breakers  are  about,  or,  if  he  does 
know,  he  does  not  care  very  much." 

In  August,  1897,  the  Advance  again  made  record 
of  the  loss  of  Sunda^^  in  the  East,  in  some  remarks 
about  certain  improvements  which  had  been  made 
at  Metropolitan  Park  Beach,  near  Boston.    It  said  : 


CONGREGATIONALIST   TESTIMONY.  53 

''These  changes  the  public  greatly  appreciate. 
Unhappily,  Sunday  seems  to  be  the  day  when  they 
show  their  appreciation  most.  Last  Sunday-  the 
beach  was  packed  with  an  eager  crowd,  estimated 
to  number  100,000  people.  Of  these  it  is  said  10,- 
000  people  desired  to  use  the  great  state  bath-house, 
and  enjoy  the  sea-bathing,  while  onh^  about  5,500 
were  able  to  do  so.  There  was  not  a  single  arrest 
during  the  day,  and  the  park  policemen  were  highly 
praised  for  their  skill  in  keeping  order.  It  seems 
a  thousand  pities  that  such  great  and  desirable 
improvements  should  lead  to  such  extensive  Sab- 
bath-desecration." 

The  crowning  testimony  for  1897,  as  many  will 
measure  it,  was  from  a  book  by  Rev.  Leonard  Wool- 
sej  Bacon,  D.  D.,  which  was  published  in  the 
autumn  of  that  year.  It  was  volume  eleven  in  the 
"  Arnerican  Church  Histor^^  Series,"  entitled,  A  His- 
tory of  American  Christianit\^ 

Chapter  XX.  covers  the  period  "  After  the  War" 
down  to  date.  On  page  371,  ff.,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing: 

"An  event  of  great  historical  importance,  which 
cannot  be  determined  to  a  precise  date,  but  which 
belongs  more  to  this  period  than  to  any  other,  is  the 
loss  of  the  Scotch  and  Puritan  Sabbath,  or,  as  many 
like  to  call  it,  the  American  Sabbath.  The  law  of 
the  Westminster  divines  on  this  subject,  it  may  be 
affirmed  without  fear  of  contradiction  from  any 
quarter,  does  not  coincide  in  its  language  with  the 
law  of  God  as  expressed  either  in  the  Old   Testament 


54  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

or  in  the  New.  The  Westminster  rule  requires,  as  if 
with  a  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord,'  that  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  instead  of  the  seventh,  men  shall  desist 
not  only  from  labor,  but  from  recreation,  and  spend 
the  whole  time  in  the  public  and  private  exercises  of 
God's  worship,  except  so  much  as  is  to  be  taken  up 
in  the  v^^orks  of  necessity  and  mercy.  Westminster 
Shorter  Catechism,  Ans.  60.*  This  interpretation 
and  expansion  of  the  Fourth  Commandment  has 
never  attained  to  a  more  than  sectarian  and  provin- 
cial authority  ;  but  the  overmastering  Puritan  influ- 
ence, both  of  Virginia  and  New  England,  combined 
with  the  Scotch-Irish  influence,  made  it  for  a  long 
time  dominant  in  America.  Even  those  who  quite 
declined  to  admit  the  divine  authority  of  the  glosses 
upon  the  commandment  felt  constrained  to  '  submit 
to  the  ordinances  of  man  for  the  Lord's  Sake.'  But 
it  was  inevitable  that  with  the  vast  increase  of  the 
travel  and  sojourn  of  American  Christians  in  other 
lands  of  Christendom,  and  the  multitudinus  immi- 
gration into  America  from  other  lands  than  Great 
Britain,  the  tradition  from  the  Westminster  elders 
should  come  to  be  openly  disputed  within  the 
church,  and  should  be  disregarded  even  when  not 
denied.  It  was  not  only  inevitable ;  it  was  a  Chris- 
tian duty  distinctly  enjoined  by  apostolic  authority. 
Col.  2:  16.  The  five  years  of  war,  during  which 
Christians  of  various  lands  and  creeds  intermingled 


*The  commentaries  on  the  Catechism,  which  are  many,  like 
Gemara  upon  Mislina,  build  wider  and  higher  the  "  fence  around  the 
law,"  in  a  fashion  truly  rabbinic. 


CONGKEGATIONAJLIST   TESTIMONY.  55 

as  never  before,  and  the  Sunda^^  laws  were  dumb, 
inter  arma,  not  only  in  the  field,  but  among  the 
home  churches,  did  perhaps  even  more  to  break  the 
force  of  the  tradition,  and  to  lead  in  a  perilous  and 
demoralizing  reaction.  Some  reaction  was  inevit- 
able. The  church  must  needs  suffer  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  overstraining  the  law  of  God.  From  the 
Sunday  of  ascetic  self-denial — '  a  day  for  a  man  to 
afflict  the  soul ' — there  w^as  a  ready  rush  into  utter 
recklessness  of  the  law  and  privilege  of  rest.  In  the 
church  there  was  w^rought  sore  damage  to  w^eak 
consciences;  men  acted,  not  from  intelligent  convic- 
tion, but  from  lack  of  conviction,  and  allowing 
themselves  in  self-indulgences  of  the  rightfulness  of 
which  they  were  dubious,  '  they  condemned  them- 
selves in  that  which  thej^  allow^ed.'  The  consequence 
in  civil  society  was  alike  disastrous.  Early  legisla- 
tion had  not  steered  clear  of  the  error  of  attempting 
to  enforce  Sabbath-keeping  as  a  religious  duty  by 
civil  penalties,  and  some  relics  of  that  mistake 
remained,  and  still  remain,  on  some  of  the  statute- 
books.  The  just  protest  against  this  wrong  was, 
of  course,  indiscriminating,  tending  to  defeat  the 
righteous  and  most  salutary  laws  that  aimed  sim- 
ply to  secure  for  the  citizen  the  privilege  of  a  weekly 
day  of  rest,  and  to  secure  the  holiday  thus  ordained 
by  law  from  being  perverted  into  a  nuisance.  The 
social  change  which  is  still  in  progress  along  these 
lines  no  wise  Christian  patriot  can  contemplate 
with  complacency.  It  threatens,  when  complete,  to 
deprive    us  of  that    universal,  quiet    Sabbath    rest 


36  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

which  has  been  one  of  the  glories  of  American  social 
life,  and  an  important  element  in  its  economic  pros- 
perit3%  and  to  give  in  place  of  it,  to  some,  no  assur- 
ance of  a  Sabbath  rest  at  all ;  to  others,  a  Sabbath 
of  revelrv  and  debauch." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TESTIMONY   FROM   PRESBYTERIAN   SOURCES. 

Presbyterians  and  Pnritan  vSunday — Chrisliaii  Siaiesvian  on  Sundaj' 
Camp  Meetings — Presbytery  of  Delaware  Alarmed — Parkhurst  Con- 
demned—Wayland  Hoyt's  Sarcasm— C65-<?rz'<fr  Condemns  Chris- 
tians—Nebulous Consciences— Sunday  Law  Needed  for  Christians 
—Self-condemned  Christians— Sunday  and  the  World's  Fair— Dr. 
Stall  Scores  Christians— Abolition  of  Sunday — Sunday-Rest  Con- 
gress —  Christian  Work  —  Dr.  Cuyler  —  Christian  Statesman 
Deplores  Increase  of  Desecration — vSynod  of  New  Jersey— General 
Assembly,  Southern— 8,000  Business  Places  Open  in  Philadelphia 
on  Sunday — Great  Disregard  of  vSunday  in  Pennsylvania — Interior 
on  "  Passing"  of  Sunday— Sunday  Labor  Well  V3.\d— Christian 
Intelligencer  on  Sunday  Among  Politicians  —  Church  Members 
Indifferent— Sunday  is  "  Wheelman's  Day  "—Dr.  Talmage  a  "  Sab- 
bath-Breaker "—Dr.  Cuyler  on  "New  Style  of  vSabbath  "—Chris- 
tians Apathetic— Dr.  Hathaway  Condemns  Christians— American 
Sabbath  Union— Better  Be  Seventh-day  Baptists— No  Remedy  for 
Increasing  Decline,  Unless  Christians  Give  Up  vSunday,  and  Fol- 
low Christ  in  Keeping  God's  Sabbath. 

pRESBYTERIANISM  and  the  Puritan  Sunday 
were  essentially  identical,  at  the  beginning. 
Embodying  high  culture,  orthodox  conservatism 
and  intense  loyalty  to  its  creed,  it  was  natural  that 
Presbyterians  should  be  among  the  first  to  detect 
the  decay  of  Sunday,  and  to  warn  against  it.  The 
material  for  this  chapter  is  greater  in  amount  than 
that  furnished  by  any  other  denomination.  (We 
include  in  the  Presbyterian  group  the  Dutch  Re- 
formed branch,  and  the  Christian  Statesman,  since 
the  National  Reform  movement  of  which  it  is  the 
organ  is  primarily  the  product  of  certain  smaller 
branches  of  the   Presbyterian  family.)     Beyond   all 


58  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

others  the  Presbyterians  had  faith  in  the"change- 
of-Sabbath"  theory,  and  the  direct  apphcation  of 
the  Fourth  Commandment  to  Sunday.  To  them  as 
much,  if  not  more  than  to  an}^  other  branch  of  Prot- 
estants, the  decay  of  Sunday  means  the  decay  of  a 
fundamental  doctrine  of  Christianity. 

In  July,  1882,  the  Christian  Statesman  said  that 
on  the  first  hot  Sunday  of  that  season  there  were 
more  excursionists  at  a  single  seaside  resort  near 
New  York  than  there  were  worshipers  in  all  the 
churches  in  that  city.  It  also  charged  the  managers 
of  the  "Simpson  Grove  Camp  Meeting  Association," 
twenty-two  miles  from  Philadelphia,  with  promot- 
ing the  desecration  of  Sunday,  by  its  arrange- 
ments for  services,  although  the  Association 
announced  that  it  would  not  arrange  for  "excursion 
trains."  The  Statesman  averred  that  the  regular 
trains  were  ample  to  meet  all  the  demands,  and  to 
empty  the  Methodist  churches  of  the  city,  as  well  as 
to  carry  many  thousand  non-church  goers  to  the 
grounds  for  pleasure  and  non-religious  recreation. 
The  Statesman  concluded  in  these  words  :  "We  can 
onh'  class  the  present  arrangement  with  other  cases 
of  deliberate  complicity  by  Christians  with  worldly 
pleasure-seeking  on  the  Sabbath," 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  same  year  the  Presby- 
tery of  Delaware,  N.  Y.,  expressed  "the  deliberate 
judgment"  that  Sunday-desecration  was  increasing 
"  with  fearful  rapidity."  That  "  an  alarming  crisis  " 
had  already  come,  and  that  Sunday  would  be 
"entirely   obliterated"   at  an  early  day,  unless  help 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  o9 

should  hasten;  that  whatever  was  done  must  be 
"  done  quickly,"  and  that  the  rescue  of  Sunday  w^as 
*'  the  question  first  in  order  of  time,  and  first  in  order 
of  importance."  In  September,  1883,  the  Christian 
Statesman  said  that  the  question  of  Sunda^'-observ- 
ance  was  the  most  prominent  and  the  most  impor- 
tant question  before  the  nation.  That  it  could  never 
return  to  the  quiet  and  indifference  of  former  times. 
Neither  the  friends  nor  the  enemies  of  Sunday  had 
sought  to  create  the  crisis,  but  it  was  here,  and  the 
issue  could  not  be  avoided  longer. 

In  November,  1885,  the  New^  York  Observer 
spoke  vigorously,  but  sadly,  of  the  alarming  growth 
of  theoretical  and  actual  no-Sabbathism  in  all  the 
large  cities.  It  declared  that  man^^  persons  consid- 
ered Sunday  laws  to  be  relics  of  barbarism,  and 
treated  them  accordingly;  that  business  "goes  on 
without  regard  to  law  or  the  protest  of  religion."  It 
said  that  the  change  for  the  worse  had  come  so  grad- 
ually that  many  persons  did  not  realize  the  danger, 
thus  making  the  danger  all  the  greater.  It  closed 
wath  these  w^ords:  "It  must  be  confessed  to  our 
shame  that  Sunday  as  a  da^^  of  rest  and  hoU^  occupa- 
tion appears  to  be  waning."  In  the  autumn  of  the 
following  year  the  Observer  repeated  its  warnings 
and  declared  that  "thousands  of  devout  people  in 
New  England  had  been  scandalized  by  the  example  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  in  traveling  on 
Sunday  in  order  to  reach  Boston  in  time  for  the 
Harvard  Anniversary,"  not  long  before.  While  the 
Observer  condemned  this  on  the  part  of  the  Presi- 


60  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

dent,  it  expressed  the  fear  that  clergymen  and  other 
Christians  were  on  the  same  train,  since  they  were 
accustomed  to  travel  on  Sunday  without  any  special 
pressure  which  could  justify  the  plea  of ''necessity." 

During  certain  local  agitation  in  New  York  in 
1886,  the  Christian  Statesman  charged  Dr.  C.  H. 
Parkhurst  with  "weakening  the  foundations  of  the 
Sabbath,"  because  he  taught  that  the  observance 
of  Sunday  does  not  rest  on  the  Fourth  Command- 
ment. In  this  criticism  the  Statesman  touched  one 
of  the  prominent  causes  of  the  decay  of  Sunday,  viz,, 
the  loss  of  faith  in  its  claims  to  divine  authority. 
In  w^hat  the  Statesman  complained  of  Dr.  Parkhurst 
there  was  represented  an  incurable  element  in  the 
final  destruction  of  Sunday.  Well  did  the  Statesman 
say:  "No  descanting,  however  eloquent,  on  the 
benefits  of  a  day  of  rest  and  worship,  can  long 
uphold  the  institution  when  the  foundation  is  thus 
cut  away  from  under  it."  It  is  well  to  add  this  :  No 
insistance  that  the  Sunday  has  rightfully  displaced 
the  Sabbath,  as  the  Statesman  claims,  however  elo- 
quent, can  cover  that  false  assumption.  Dr.  Park- 
hurst did  no  more  to  undermine  the  Sunda^^  by  a 
frank  and  manly  admission  of  an  important  fact, 
than  the  Statesman  does  by  assuming,  in  the  face  of 
the  Word  of  God,  that  the  Doctor  did  not  state  the 
facts.  Both  of  these  positions  undermine  Sunday; 
one  by  admittmg  the  facts,  and  the  other  by  denying 
them. 

In    April,    1886,     the    "Ministerial    Union"    of 
Philadelphia,  at  a  meeting  in  the  rooms  of  the  Pres- 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  61 

b3'terian  Publishing  House,  discussed  the  problem 
of  the  Sunday  newspaper.  Dr.  Ruftis  Clark  pre- 
sented a  paper  in  which  it  was  claimed  that  this 
greatest  of  foes  to  Sunday  had  become  firmly  fixed 
as  one  of  the  institutions  of  our  time,  and  this  with 
the  consent  and  aid  of  Christians.  In  the  course  of 
the  discussion  Dr.  Wa^dand  Hoyt  castigated  Chris- 
tians because  their  efforts  at  Sunday  Reform  were 
spent,  mainl\%  in  passing  resolutions,  while  their 
practices  fostered  the  evils  against  which  they 
resolved,  at  long  range.  Dr.  Hoyt's  well-directed 
sarcasm  against  the  defense  by  "resolution"  w^as 
very  pertinent.  The  American  people  are  noted  for 
passing  resolutions.  Many  who  aspire  to  be  reform- 
ers seem  to  think  that  when  proper  resolutions  have 
been  passed  concerning  anA^  question,  the  work  is 
mainly  done.  The  records  of  the  last  twenty  years 
show  that  different  religious  bodies  in  the  United 
States  have  made  "resolutions"  their  main  work, 
so  far  as  Sunday  is  concerned.  Preambles  in  which 
we  are  gravely  told  what  ought  to  be,  followed  by 
resolutions  asserting  that  people  ought  to  do  what 
ought  to  be  done,  have  been  plentiful.  Their  effect 
has  been  quite  as  marked  as  that  of  the  Pope's  bull 
against  the  comet. 

The  reader  will  remember  that  the  Sunday  law 
of  California  was  repealed  in  1883.  In  1887  a  vig- 
orous effort  was  made  to  secure  some  form  of  law 
in  its  place,  but  nothing  was  attained.  Similar 
efforts  have  been  made  from  time  to  time  since,  with 
the    same    results.    In    1887    Dr.  George    S.   Mott, 


62  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

President  of  the  New  Jersey  Sabbath  Association, 
reported  that  the  disregard  for  Sunday  in  that  state 
was  increasing  in  various  forms,  and  that  the 
atmosphere  was  filled  with  the  poison  of  "lax 
observance,"  which  threatened  the  conscience  of  the 
most  devout.  He  said  that  individual  Christians, 
and  churches,  were  ^'ielding  to  the  Continental  Sun- 
da3^;  that  the  burden  of  responsibility  rested  on 
Christians,  and  that  "  a  correct  Sabbath  sentiment 
is  the  imperative  need  of  the  hour."  July  28,  1887, 
under  the  title  "Loosing  Sunday,"  "Lex,"  in  the 
New  York  Observer,  drew  a  dark  picture  of  Sunday 
in  the  United  States,  which  represented  it  as  already 
nigh  to  death.  He  declared  that  Christians  were 
foremost  among  those  who  w^ere  slaying  it.  His 
arraignment  of  Christians  may  be  compressed  into 
this  sentence:  "If  Christians  everywhere  would 
refrain  from  doing  their  own  pleasure  on  the  Sab- 
bath, the  day  would  indeed  be  a  delight,  the  holy  of 
the  Lord,  honorable." 

March  31,  1887,  a  correspondent  of  the  Ob- 
server, trying  to  answer  the  arguments  of  the  Sev- 
enth-day Baptists,  took  the  ground  that  the  Fourth 
Commandment  does  not  fix  any  specific  day  of  the 
week,  but  only  one  day  of  rest,  beginning  to  count 
where  you  choose. 

July  26,  1888,  an  editorial  in  the  Observer  s-pok^ 
sadh^  of  the  rapid  decline  of  regard  for  Sunday,  and 
said  :  "If  all  Christians  were  united  in  defence  of  it 
as  a  religious  institution,"  there  would  be  much 
greater   hope  of  checking    the    decline    and    decay. 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  63 

Again,  November  1,  1888,  the  Observer  wrote  at 
length  on  the  general  disregard,  and  of  New  Eng- 
land, said  :  "  Old  staid  New  England  is  gone  over  to 
Sabbath-desecration  to  an  extent  that  causes  her  to 
keep  pace  with  the  demoralization  of  other  sections 
of  the  country ;  and  this  has  been  abetted  in  great 
measure  by  the  native  population.  All  over  our 
land  the  religious  Sabbath  is  falling  into  neglect ; 
the  holiday  Sabbath  is  spreading.  By  the  conces- 
sions which  are  constantly  being  made  through  the 
repeal  of  old  Sabbath  laws,  and  the  pernicious 
examples  of  man^^  who  fill  high  civil  oflSces  and  the 
general  laxness  which  has  come  to  all  classes,  we 
stand  face  to  face  with  the  problem  whether  the 
American  Sabbath  of  our  fathers  is  to  be  abandoned 
for  the  Continental  Sunday,  which  means  the  sur- 
render of  our  peculiar  institutions  as  the\^  have  here- 
tofore shaped  the  genius  of  the  Republic.  Christians 
are  not  regarding  the  Sabbath  as  sacredly  as  they 
should.  Many  Christians  are  neglecting  the  sanctu- 
ary and  its  services  ;  many  Christians  fail  to  regard 
the  Sabbath  as  unto  the  Lord ;  in  many  Christian 
families  there  is  laxity  of  training  on  this  point. 
Not  till  Christians  preach  and  practice  reverence  for 
the  day  of  God  can  a  better  state  of  things  be 
expected." 

The  report  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
National  Reform  Association,  presented  at  its  meet- 
ing in  Philadelphia,  in  April,  1888,  showed  that 
great  efforts  were  being  made  to  secure  legislation, 
throuo^h    constitutional    amendment,  which   would 


64  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

establish  Sunday  by  national  law.  It  was  reported 
that  the  Woman's  Temperance  Union  had  enlisted 
in  that  enterprise,  and  that  the  prospect  for  such  an 
advance  in  the  matter  of  Sunday  was  full  of  promise. 
The  speakers  and  the  report  urged  that  "  Sunday 
was  already  in  politics,"  and  that  its  friends  must 
push  it  to  a  successful  issue,  along  political  lines. 
The  necessity  of  bringing  Christians  into  better  rela- 
tions to  the  question  was  put  in  the  following 
words  :  "  This  National  Sabbath  Committee  should 
be  appointed  by  the  churches,  and  its  chief  work  at 
first  should  be  with  the  nebulous  consciences  of  the 
church.  If  Christians  could  be  shown  that  it  is  their 
duty  to  withhold  their  stock  and  patronage  from 
railroads  running  Sunday  trains,  and  their  adver- 
tisements and  sanction  from  Sunday  newspapers, 
and  their  endorsement  from  Sunday  mails,  all  these 
would  soon  become  as  disreputable  as  tipling,  and 
laws  against  them  would  be  secured  with  no  more 
difficulty." 

Those  who  have  followed  the  history  of  the  Sab- 
bath-question in  politics  since  1888  know  that  the 
''nebulous  consciences  of  the  church"  have  con- 
tinued to  cultivate  the  seeds  of  decay  in  Sunday,  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  to  create  conscience  by  civil  enact- 
ment. The  extent  to  which  good  men,  blind  to  the 
fact  that  the  influence  of  civil  legislation  has  alwa\'s 
been  in  favor  of  Sunday  holidayism,  in  the  long  run, 
have  fostered  national  legislation  as  a  means  of  sav- 
ing Sunday,  is  as  surprising  as  it  has  been  futile. 
For  example: 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  65 

J.  M.  Foster,  Secretar3^  of  the  National  Reform 
Association,  writing  from  Richmond,  Ind.,  in  1892, 
drew  a  dark  picture  of  the  disregard  of  Christians 
for  Sunda3%  and  of  "Presbyterian  elders"  who 
travel  with  "  Masonic  excursions  "  on  that  day.  To 
correct  these  evils  and  make  these  Christians  better, 
Mr.  Foster  declared  that  there  is  need  of  a  strict  Sun- 
day law,  the  aim  of  which  shall  be :  "  To  protect  the 
employer  against  himself.  He  is  often  so  covetous 
that  he  will  sin  against  his  own  conscience  in  order 
to  gain  the  time  of  the  Sabbath.  The  superintend- 
ent of  a  leading  house  in  Cincinnati,  in  order  to 
have  his  goods  arranged  for  their  opening  day  in 
in  a  new  house,  said  to  those  imder  his  direction : 
'  I  am  a  member  of  the  church.  I  respect  any 
one's  scruples.  But  those  who  have  no  conscien- 
tious objections  to  working  on  the  Sabbath  w411 
come  and  help  me  to-morrow.  The  rest  must  w^ork 
Saturday  night.'  That  man  needs  a  Sabbath  law  to 
protect  himself.  He  has  not  conscience  enough  to 
doit." 

What  a  proposition  :  create  religious  conscience 
for  Presbyterian  elders  and  other  church  members,  by 
civil  law  !  Think  of  this  scene  at  the  judgment  seat 
of  Christ.  Dialogue:  Judge. — Why  did  a^ou  disre- 
gard Sunday  while  on  earth?  Culprit. — Because  the 
civil  law  of  Indiana  did  not  compel  me,  nor  create  in 
me  a  heart  clean  enough  to  keep  the  "  Lord's-day 
holy."  What  a  travesty  ! !  And  A^et  it  must  always 
come  to  this  when  men  attempt  to  substitute 
human  law  for  divine  law,  and  to  relv  on  the  out- 


66  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

ward  restraint  of  civil   enactment,  rather  than   the 
inward  control  of  an  enlightened  conscience. 

In  1888  the  New  York  Observer,  quoting  from  the 
Journal  of  Commerce,  pressed  the  truth  in  vigorous 
language,  that  "a  Sunday  which  has  no  sacred 
hours  will  soon  have  no  interval  for  peaceful  rest." 
It  commended  this  from  the y^ourfla/,  "  as  a  bit  of  com- 
mon sense  and  sound  political  economy  from  a  busi- 
ness counting-house.''  In  1889  the  Christian  Intelli- 
gencer i^or  tray  ^d  tho:  rapid  loss  of  Sunday  and  the 
criminal  indifference  of  its  professed  friends  in  strong 
colors,  and  sounded  the  alarm  in  these  words:  "It 
is  a  time,  not  of  peace,  but  of  war — of  war  to  the 
knife,  of  war  to  the  bitter  end  ;  for  we  must  remem- 
ber that  where  our  enemies  are  victorious  there  will 
they  be  striking  a  fatal  blow  at  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ." 

In  October,  1889,  Secretary  Foster,  of  the 
National  Reform  Association,  said :  "  There  is  a  gen- 
eral feeling  of  anxiety  among  the  people  for  our  Sab- 
bath. They  feel  that  something  should  be  done,  but 
there  is  a  night-mare  of  inability  to  do  anything.  A 
good  brother  said  to  me:  'The  Sunday  paper 
comes  to  my  house  regularh'.  We  began  taking  it 
during  the  war.  We  wanted  the  latest  news  from 
the  battle-fields.  And  it  has  been  coming  ever  since. 
I  know  it  is  wrong.  There  should  not  be  any  Sun- 
day paper.  It  is  an  injury  to  society.  But  when 
others  take  it  we  might  as  well  have  it.'  Another 
brother  said  :  '  I  am  a  stockholder  in  a  street-car 
company.     I  know  it  is  wrong  to  compel  the  work- 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  67 

men  to  labor  on  the  Sabbath.  It  is  an  injury  to 
their  body  and  soul,  it  wrongs  their  families  and  dis- 
honors God.  But  I  do  not  believe  you  can  ever  stop 
street-cars  on  the  Sabba'h.  Christians  generally 
use  them.  And  the  stockholders  are  no  more  blame- 
able  than  society  which  justifies  them.'  "  This  was 
a  significant  commentary  upon  the  decay  which  had 
ensued  in  the  consciences  of  Christian  people. 
When  he  represented  Christian  men  as  standing 
powerless  through  weakness  of  conscience,  continu- 
ing to  do  that  which  they  think  is  wrong,  and  yet 
frankh^  sa^'ing  that  they  do  not  believe  matters  can 
be  made  better,  the  picture  was  dark  indeed.  Such 
a  result  is  unavoidable,  since  the  only  foundation  on 
which  conscience  can  rest  is  divine  authority.  Hav- 
ing disregarded  divine  authority  in  the  matter  of 
the  Sabbath  ("Saturday"),  these  Christian  men  for 
whom  Secretar\^  Foster  spoke  found  themselves  slain 
by  their  own  acts,  and  unable  to  shake  off  the  night- 
mare which  a  moribund  conscience  had  induced. 
Appeals  to  the  civil  law  are  of  no  value  in  such  cases. 
While  men  continue  to  put  aside  divine  authority, 
for  the  sake  of  avoiding  the  claims  of  the  Sabbath, 
the  decay  of  consience  must  go  on,  until  there  will  be 
left  too  little  vitality  to  develop  even  "night-mare." 

OPENING   OF  THE  WORLD'S   FAIR. 

The  3^ear  1892  was  made  memorable  on  the  Sun- 
day question  by  the  struggle  over  the  opening  of  the 
World's  Fair  in  Chicago.  Presbyterians  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  struggle.  Unable  to  secure 
the  closing  through  the  local  authorities,  the  friends 


68  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

of  Sunday  besieged  Congress  to  grant  aid  to  the 
enterprise  only  on  the  ground  that  the  gates  should 
be  closed  on  Sunday.  The  history  of  their  efforts, 
and  the  evidence  of  negative  zeal,  or  definite  indiffer- 
ence on  the  part  of  the  friends  of  Sunday,  shov^ed 
that  even  then  the  decay  had  passed  beyond  cure  or 
arrest,  even  by  Act  of  Congress.  The  inactivity  of 
the  pastors  was  sharply  commented  upon  by  the 
Christian  Statesman  as  follov^^s:  "When  Congress 
opened,  the  desk  of  every  Senator  and  Congressman 
should  have  been  heaped  high  with  petitions  and 
letters  asking  for  the  closing  of  the  World's  Fair  on 
the  Sabbath.  About  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand blank  petitions  had  been  sent  out;  most  of  the 
pastors  of  the  country  had  two  sets,  many  of  them 
three,  some  of  them  four  and  others  five.  We  find 
records  of  less  than  one  hundred  petitions  presented 
in  the  United  States  Senate  before  the  holiday  recess. 
We  have  no  words  to  characterize  this  negligence. 
Hundreds  of  petitions  that  have  been  adopted  have 
not  been  signed  and  forwarded,  and  probably  a 
majority  of  the  churches  of  the  land,  with  the  roar 
of  this  moral  Waterloo  in  their  ears,  have  not  even 
adopted  the  petition."  A  little  later,  Feb.  6,  1892, 
the  Statesman  added  this:  "In  the  first  sixteen 
days  of  this  Congress,  the  great  state  of  Pennsylva- 
nia sent  to  the  United  States  Senate  just  twelve 
petitions  against  Sunday-opening  of  the  World's 
Fair,  and  other  states  did  no  better.  Awake, 
awake,  Deborah;  arise,  Barak,  and  lead  thy  captiv- 
ity captive." 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  69 

In  response  to  the  call  for  aid  to  Sunday,  Con- 
gressman Morse,  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  5th  of 
January,  1892,  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
introduced  "  A  Bill  to  Prohibit  the  Opening  of  any 
Exhibition  or  Exposition  where  Appropriations  of 
the  United  States  are  Expended,"  on  Sunday.  Sen- 
ator Colquitt  introduced  the  bill  in  the  Senate  on 
the  11th  of  February.  This  renewed  the  activity  all 
along  the  line  of  the  Sunda}^  question.  It  is  not 
needful  to  rehearse  here  the  ins  and  outs  of  that  con- 
test. It  is  enough  to  note  that  the  final  result  was  a 
pretended  effort  to  close  the  Fair  which  was  in  no 
way  accomplished.  But  the  want  of  deep  or  consci- 
entious regard  for  Sunday  by  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  Christian  and  non-Christian,  was 
demonstrated  many  times  over.  The  Interior,  stal- 
wart and  able  representative  of  Presbyterianism  in 
the  Northwest,  summarized  the  situation  in  October, 
1893,  so  fineU^,  that  we  make  room  for  its  well- 
chosen  words.  (This  was  from  a  correspondent  of 
the  Interior,  Rev.  Sylvanus  Stall,  D.  D.) : 

"The  national  observance  of  the  Lord's-day 
waits  upon  the  individual  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath. If  the  Lord's-da^'  was  properly  observed  in 
all  our  homes,  there  would  be  no  question  concern- 
ing its  observance  by  corporations  and  by  those 
who  represent  the  nation.  When  we  look  at  it 
calmly  and  considerateh'  we  will  discover  that  the 
real  influences  which  have  contributed  to  the  open- 
ing of  the  gates  of  the  Exposition  on  Sunday  have 
derived  their  efficiency  and  power  from  the  fact  that 


70  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

in  too  many  of  the  Christian  homes  throughout  the 
United  States  there  are  open  gates  on  Sunday. 
Look  about  in  your  own  communit}^  and  see  how 
mauA^  Christian  people  regard  it  as  essential  to  their 
comfort  that  the  confectioner  should  serve  them 
with  ice  cream  for  their  Sunday  dinner.  Inquire  of 
your  grocer,  your  btitchei,  and  your  baker  how 
many  members  of  the  Christian  church  come  to  their 
store  on  Sunday  for  supplies  which  could  just  as 
easily  have  been  provided  on  Saturday  evening.  In 
every  village  and  city  there  are  scores,  and  hundreds, 
and  in  some  instances  even  thousands,  who  enjoy 
no  day  of  rest,  simph^  because  thc}^  are  consigned  to 
perpetual  servitude  by  the  many  gates  that  stand 
open  on  Sunday.  Everywhere  there  are  men  of 
respectability  and  of  influence  who  think  little  or 
nothing  of  stepping  into  a  cigar  store  on  Sunday  and 
purchasing  that  which  could  just  as  easilyhave  been 
provided  at  any  time  before  twelve  o'clock  on  Satur- 
day night.  The  quiet  of  Sunday  morning  in  all  our 
cities  and  villages  is  disturbed  by  the  cries  of  news- 
boys who  find  many  purchasers  among  those  who 
constitute  the  professedly  Christian  population.  Too 
often  social  visiting  and  letter-writing  are  deferred, 
and  made  to  fill  the  hours  on  Sunday  which  should 
properly  be  spent  in  public  worship,  or  the  reading  of 
religious  books  and  periodicals,  or  such  religious 
contemplation  as  is  suited  to  the  sacredness  of  the 
day." 

In  the  same  month  and  year  the  Christian  States- 
man   said:     '*The    present    is    the    only   time    that 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  71 

remains  to  the  friends  of  the  Sabbath.  Another 
decade,  at  the  present  rate  of  progress,  and  it  will 
be  too  late  to  secure  a  weekly  day  of  rest  and  wor- 
ship. Mammon  will  triumph,  and  the  toil  of  the 
masses  wnll  be  uninterrupted.  The  church  in  its 
humiliation  will  have  time  to  mourn  the  wicked- 
ness and  folly  of  its  course  in  failing  to  maintain  the 
Sabbath  of  the  fathers.  When  will  the  church  learn 
that  in  its  toleration  and  support  of  the  Sunday 
press  it  is  nursing  a  viper,  the  sting  of  which  is 
already  inflicting  a  deadl^^  wound.  F'or  the  Sunday 
paper  the  church  is  responsible.  Without  the  mone^'^ 
received  from  the  church — from  the  members  of  the 
evangelical  denominations — the  average  Sunday 
paper  would  soon  die." 

In  the  spring  of  1893,  Rev.  W.  F.  Crafts,  who, 
according  to  the  Golden  Rule,  of  Boston,  "is  an 
expert  in  Sabbath  Reform,"  in  the  Christian  States- 
man, drew  a  doleful  picture  of  the  decay  of  Sunday 
in  New  England.  He  declared  that  all  New  Eng- 
land was  in  dire  peril  from  work  and  dissipation  on 
Sunda\^  and  that  next  to  nothing  was  being  done 
to  avert  the  danger.  He  said  that  New  England 
seemed  to  "be  sliding  in  its  sleep,  waiting  to  be 
waked  up  by  a  smash-up  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  like 
Cincinnati."  Massachusetts  came  in  for  a  large  share 
of  Mr.  Craft's  denunciations. 

Rev.  John  Woods,  D.  D.,  in  the  Interior,  of  June 
29,  1893,  wrote  of  "The  Gradual  Abolition  of  the 
Sabbath."  He  traced  in  detail  the  rise  of  Sunday 
mails,  Sunday  trains,  Sunday   newspapers,   and   the 


72  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

opening  of  the  Columbian  Exposition,  His  treat- 
ment of  the  case  was  accurate  and  intelligent,  show- 
ing how  the  efforts  to  check  the  downward  drift  had 
proved  futile ;  how  state  and  municipal  laws  were  a 
dead  letter,  and  how  Congressional  action  had  been 
like  a  barrier  of  water-weeds  before  the  swollen  Nile. 
He  closed  w4th  these  words:  "But  there  is  a 
broader  question  than  this  opening  of  the  Fair  on 
the  Sabbath.  Where  do  the  Christian  people  of  this 
country  propose  to  make  a  stand  ?  They  have 
allowed  one  form  of  lawlessness  after  another.  They 
first  endure,  then  pity,  then  embrace.  In  some  of  the 
states  all  Sunday  laws  have  been  wiped  from  the 
statutes.  Municipal  ordinances  are  a  dead  letter.  At 
what  point  is  this  downward  course  to  be  arrested  ? 
Is  it  to  be  arrested  at  all?  These  are  questions  that 
vitally  concern  the  nation  and  the  Christian 
church." 

The  tendency  to  rely  on  inoperative  Sunday 
laws,  and  to  complain  of  their  non-enforcement,  was 
seriously  and  ably  discussed  in  1893  by  Rev.  J.  H. 
Knowles,  D.  D.,  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Sab- 
bath Union.  He  showed  the  folly  of  such  reliance, 
and  urged  that  the  appeal  be  made  to  conscience 
and  the  Bible.  In  this  respect  Dr.  Knowles  was 
much  in  advance  of  many  of  those  who  have  been 
active  in  Sunda\^  Reform.  He  has  gone  to  his 
reward,  but  it  is  a  pleasure  to  bear  a  tribute  to  his 
candor,  his  sweet  spirit,  and  to  his  clear  apprehen- 
sion of  the  true  basis  of  reform. 

A   "Sunday  Rest   Congress"   was   held  in   Chi- 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  73 

cago,  in  connection  with  the  World's  Fair.  It 
closed  on  the  30th  of  September,  1893.  It  was 
meagerly  attended.  The  Roman  Catholics  were  a 
prominent  factor  in  it,  if  not  the  most  prominent 
one.  Then,  as  at  other  times,  there  was  evidence 
that  Catholics  rejoice  in  such  efforts  of  Protestants 
as  force  them  to  appeal  to  Catholics  for  aid,  and  to 
a  reliance  on  civil  law  for  the  basis  of  Sunday-ob- 
servance. More  will  be  said  on  this  point  in  a  sub- 
sequent chapter.  Taken  all  in  all,  the  year  1893 
strengthened  old  factors,  and  introduced  new  ones 
which  promoted  the  decay  of  Sunda3^  It  gave  an 
impetus  downward,  from  which  Sunday  has  not 
recovered.  Probably  no  one  event  of  the  last  half 
century  has  done  more  to  weaken  the  cause  of  Sun- 
day, and  the  execution  of  Sunday  law,  than  did  the 
action  of  Congress,  the  failure  of  that  action,  and 
the  revealing  of  the  wide-spread  apathy  of  Chris- 
tians in  the  matter.  Perhaps  the  action  of  Con- 
gress was  taken  with  the  expectation  that  it  would 
not  be  evaded.  But  the  circumstances  made  it  easy 
to  evade  it,  in  the  interest  of  Sunday-opening,  which 
the  majority  of  the  people  desired.  In  July,  1893, 
the  writer,  as  editor  of  the  Evangel  and  Sabbath 
Outlook,  said:  ''It  seems  unnecessary  to  say  that 
the  immediate  results  of  the  opening  of  the  Colum- 
bian Exposition  on  Sunday  are  not  the  most  impor- 
tant ones.  Under  any  decision,  the  holding  of  the 
Exposition,  especially  at  Chicago,  could  not  fail  to 
increase  and  emphasize  the  growing  disregard  for 
Sunday.     As    to    the    Sabbath    question,    which    is 


74  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

much  larger  than  the  Sunday  question,  the  funda- 
mental issues  involved  have  been  assumed,  but  not 
discussed.  The  facts  on  which  the  final  settlement 
must  rest  are  little  Known,  and  less  regarded.  The 
defeat  of  Sunda3^-closing  will  doubtless  lead  Chris- 
tian men  to  thoughtfulness,  such  as  has  not  been 
common.  That  defeat  is  far  more  than  a  case  of  out- 
witting the  courts.  Carefully  considered,  it  is  a  new 
revelation  of  the  actual  weakness  of  public  opinion 
in  the  matter  of  regard  for  Sunday.  This  weakness, 
this  disease  unto  death,  will  compel  recognition  at 
last,  no  matter  how  much  the  friends  of  the  patient 
may  shrink  from  it.  The  cancer  is  growing,  and  the 
patient  is  failing.  It  is  useless  to  ignore  the  symp- 
toms. When  they  are  fully  recognized,  much  will  be 
gained.  Nostrums  and  quacks  will  then  be  ruled 
out.  An  actual  and  Biblical  diagnosis  of  the  case 
must  me  made.  God's  Word  is  ready  to  write  the 
prescription  that  w\\]  bring  healing.  The  friends  of 
Sunday  shrink  from  that  prescription.  But  God 
waits  patiently,  and  if  we  may  venture  to  interpret 
events,  the  failure  of  Sunday-closing,  under  the  Act 
of  Congress,  is  another  of  God's  verdicts  in  history 
that  nothing  is  ever  settled  tmtil  it  is  rightly  settled. 
The  Christian  church  must  return  to  the  Sabbath  of 
the  Bible,  the  Sabbath  of  Christ,  or  meet  similar 
defeats  to  the  end  of  the  chapter." 

The  proof  that  our  words  indicated  the  results 
that  must  follow  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  now  so 
many  of  the  most  thoughtful  friends  of  Sunday  con- 
fess  that  its  "loss"  has  come.     That  is   the  most 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  75 

important  step  toward  something  better.  When 
error  dies,  truth  gets  a  hearing. 

In  1894,  Christian  Work  {Christian  Work  is  an 
■undenominational  paper,  but  its  affinity  for  the 
Presbyterian  position  on  the  Sunday  question 
makes  it  proper  to  place  its  testimony  in  this  con- 
nection), published  a  summary  of  the  schedules  for 
the  baseball  season  that  year.  It  showed  that  there 
were  one  hundred  and  twentj^-eight  games.  Chris- 
tian Work  characterized  this  as  a  "disgraceful 
record."  It  also  said  that  the  most  hateful  feature 
of  the  case  was  the  influence  of  such  gaming  in  defi- 
ance of  law,  on  other  forms  of  pleasure  and  business, 
since  the  popularity  and  success  of  these  games, 
w^hich  w^ere  great  monej^-making  schemes,  were  a 
w^arrant  to  all  else  "  To  go  ahead  and  violate  the 
Sunday  laws  w^ith  impvmity."  To  the  same  j-ear 
belongs  the  testimony  from  the  Christian  Reformer, 
Pittsburg,  which  reported  that  local  disregard  for 
Sunday,  in  and  about  that  city,  had  attained  a 
great  triumph,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  National 
Reformers  to  prevent  such  decay.  "Forty  thou- 
sand people  "were  reported  as  seeking  pleasure  in 
Schenh^  Park,  on  Sunday,  June  10.  On  May  the 
26th,  the  i?e/br/77er  said  that  all  the  popular  games 
went  on,  and  that  the  local  authorities  made  little 
or  no  effort  to  prevent  them. 

In  April,  1894,  Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler  made  an 
address  before  the  American  Sabbath  Union,  in 
which  he  dwelt  at  length  on  the  deca^^  of  Sunday',  and 
the  many  influences   that  were  destroying  it.     He 


76  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

insisted  with  much  earnestness  that  the  greatest 
need  of  the  time  was  "pubhc  conscience,"  for  the 
salvation  of  Sunday.  He  declared  that  political 
power,  national  law,  and  all  similar  agencies  were 
of  no  avail  without  religious  conscience. 

In  Ma\%  1894,  the  Christian  Statesman  put 
forth  a  combination  of  warning  and  despair,  which 
formed  so  good  a  summar\^  of  the  situation  that  we 
reproduce  it  here.  But  it  goes  without  sa^'ing  that 
the  "common  ground  "  which  the  Statesman  recom- 
mended has  never  been  found  ;  and  concert  of  action 
b^^  Christians  is  pushed  farther  into  impossibility 
each  year.  This  is  the  Statesman  s  call  to  arms : 
''The  Christian  Sabbath  is  in  peril  in  this  land. 
Upon  all  sides  it  is  assailed.  There  is  a  growing 
desecration  of  the  day.  Sabbath  labor  is  largely  on 
the  increase.  Amusements  and  recreations  are 
multiplying  on  the  Sabbath.  Sunday  mails,  Sunday 
trains,  Sunday  newspapers  are  increasing.  Open 
theatres,  galleries,  libraries,  flower-shows  in  the 
parks,  excursions  b}^  rail  and  boat,  secular  meetings 
of  labor  organizations,  and  social  brotherhoods,  and 
a  thousand  other  desecrations  of  the  sacred  day,  are 
seen  everywhere.  The  day  is  turning  into  a  mere 
holiday  with  its  mingled  toil  and  demoralizing 
recreations.  The  Sabbath  of  our  American  history, 
of  the  Bible,  is  becoming  obsolete  with  an  increasing 
portion  of  our  population.  And  with  this  growing 
Sabbath-breaking  comes  a  subtile  but  deliberate 
eftbrt  to  remove  from  our  statute  books  the  laws 
which  protect  the  Sabbath  from   outward  desecra- 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  77 

tion.  Much  of  the  Sabbath-breakhig  of  the  day  is 
against  the  civil  as  well  as  the  divine  law.  And 
hence  our  legislators,  who  too  generally  represent 
the  law-breaking  classes  in  this  matter,  are  serving 
their  masters  by  quietly  but  persistently  amending 
the  Sabbath  laws  in  the  interest  of  these  practices. 
And  thus,  as  a  nation,  we  are  gliding  into  the  condi- 
tion of  Continental  Europe,  so  far  as  the  Sabbath  is 
concerned.  Our  American  Sabbath  is  becoming  a 
Continental  Sunda\^  Many  thoughtful  minds  are 
beginning  to  see  clearh^  that  unless  the  drift  be 
checked,  and  that  very  soon,  our  Sabbath  will  be 
gone  beyond  recovery.  Just  when  the  nations  of 
Continental  Europe  are  beginning  to  realize  that 
many  of  the  burdens  that  are  crushing  out  the  very 
life  of  their  people  are  to  be  traced  to  the  demoral- 
izing influences  of  a  holiday  Sunday,  and  can  be 
removed  only  by  securing  to  them  the  beneficent 
influences  of  the  sacred  day,  the  people  of  this  land 
are  permitting  the  sacred  day  to  be  turned  into  a 
holiday.  But  there  is  still  hope,  in  the  fact  that  the 
danger  is  beginning  to  be  discerned.  From  all  our 
exchanges,  and  from  private  correspondence,  it  is 
evident  that,  while  there  is  an  apparently  consenting 
apathy  with  reference  to  this  state  of  things,  on  the 
part  of  the  great  mass  of  even  our  Christian  citizens, 
yet  there  are  very  many  who  are  awake  to  the  dan- 
ger, and  are  ready  to  w^elcome  and  second  any  move- 
ment which  may  give  promise  of  success  in  the  resto- 
ration of  the  Sabbath  to  our  land.  And  this  raises 
the  question  as  to  the  possibility  and  feasibility  of  a 


78  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

concerted  effort  all  over  the  land,  for  the  suppression 
of  these  Sabbath-desecrations,  and  the  full  protec- 
tion, by  law,  of  the  Sabbath  in  its  civil  relations  and 
claims.  Is  such  a  concerted  movement  possible? 
Can  a  union  of  all  the  Sabbath-loving  citizens  of  the 
land,  in  a  general  and  persistent  effort  on  behalf  of 
the  imperiled  Sabbath,  be  secured  and  maintained? 
Surely  it  must  be  possible.  Could  not  the  various 
branches  of  the  Christian  church  inaugurate  and 
carry  on  such  a  movement?  Let  each  body  appoint 
certain  of  its  most  reliable  and  influential  members, 
to  meet  with  similar  representatives  of  the  othe^ 
bodies,  and  let  the  representative  body  agree  upon  a 
line  of  general  effort,  and  formulate  methods  by 
which  the  entire  constituencies  of  all  the  churches 
can  work  together  to  this  end,  and  have  behind  the 
effort  the  moral  weight  and  force  of  the  entire  Chris- 
tian citizenship  of  the  land.  Such  a  movement  must 
certainly  be  possible.  And  what  a  power  it 
v^^ould  carry  with  it  !  How  soon  it  would 
constrain  the  Post  Office  Department  of  the  Na- 
tional Government  to  dispense  with  its  Sabbath- 
breaking  mail  service,  the  railway  managements  to 
reduce  to  the  minimum  the  Sabbath  running  of 
trains,  the  Sunday  newspapers  to  discontinue  their 
Sunday  editions,  and  the  numberless  minor  dese- 
crations of  the  da3^  to  cease  their  work.  Can  such 
an  effort  not  be  undertaken?  Who  will  lead  off  in 
the  attempt  to  secure  it?  The  Christim  Statesman 
can  be  counted  on  to  do  all  within  its  power  to 
help  it  on." 


PRESBYTERIAN  TESTIMONY.  79 

SOME   OFFICIAL   UTTERAXCES. 

In  October,  1894,  the  "Permanent  Committee 
on  Sabbath-observance"  of  the  Presbyterian  Synod 
of  New  Jersey,  through  the  chairman,  George  S. 
Mott,  D.  D.,made  an  elaborate  report  upon  Sunda^^- 
observance  in  that  state.  The  report  stated  that 
the  friends  of  Sunday  felt  a  deep  sense  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  question,  and  desired  to  secure  a  better 
state  of  things.  In  all  of  their  attempts,  serious 
obstacles  were  encountered.  Few  persons  were  will- 
ing to  take  the  necessary  responsibility  and  do  the 
work  necessary  to  accomplish  any  definite  and 
permanent  results.  It  was  also  said  that  the  laxity 
of  church  members  undermined  effective  efforts. 
Profit  and  pleasure  combined  to  nullify  any  success- 
ful enforcement  of  the  Sunday  laws.  The  report 
declared  that  "Sunday  traffic,  Sunday  excursions, 
SundaA^  saloons,  and  the  Sunday  newspaper,  once 
they  dominate  the  Sabbath,  will  change  it  from  the 
peoples' day  into  the  devil's  day."  At  the  same  time 
the  report  averred  that  all  these  forms  of  decay  in 
the  matter  of  Sunda^^-observance  were  increasing  in 
New  Jersey. 

The  report  of  the  Permanent  Committee  on 
Sunday-observance,  of  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  which  met  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in  1894, 
contained  much  evidence  of  the  general  decay  of 
regard  for  Sunday.  Forty-eight  Presbyteries  had 
replied  to  inquiries  concerning  Sunday-.  Fifteen 
reported  either  some  improvement,  or  a  state  of 
opinion   which  promised    improvement.      Fourteen 


80  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

reported  a  backward  tendency,  an  increase  of  travel 
on  Sunday,  etc.  Nineteen  reported  no  perceptible 
change.  Some  reported  improvement  in  one  place 
and  deterioration  in  others.  Some  assigned  the 
diminution  of  travel  to  a  want  of  money,  rather 
than  to  a  regard  for  Sunday.  Little  w^as  said  in  the 
report  abont  Sunday  newspapers,  and  the  commit- 
tee said:  "We  would  be  glad  to  believe  the  reason 
to  be  that  the  evil  is  abating,  but  w^e  fear  this  rather 
to  be  the  true  reason,  that  the  thing  has  become  so 
common  as  not  to  excite  any  wonder  or  remark." 

In  1894,  J.  H.  Leiper,  Secretary  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Sabbath  Association,  reported  that  he  had 
spent  the  month  of  March  at  work  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  He  said  that  notwithstanding  the 
general  good*  character  of  that  city,  and  in  spite  of 
the  work  and  influence  of  a  local  Sabbath  Associa- 
tion for  more  than  fifty  years,  there  were  in  Philadel- 
phia eight  thousand  places  of  business  open  on  Sun- 
day. Mr.  Leiper  touched  a  decayed  spot  in  the  local 
association,  as  w^ell  as  in  other  similar  organiza- 
tions, when  he  said,  in  closing,  "Satan  laughs  at 
plans  on  paper  that  never  get  any  farther." 

In  July,  1895,  the  Christian  Intelligencer 
attacked  the  bicycle,  vehemently,  as  did  many  other 
papers.  It  condemned  the  wheel  as  the  foe  to  Sun- 
day, and  to  all  things  good,  through  Sunday.  In 
summarizing  it  said:  "What  with  Sunday  news- 
papers, Sunday  bicyde  runs,  Sunday  excursions, 
Sunday  yacht  races,  and  Sunday  traveling,  the  out- 
look in  this  country  for  a  proper  and   Scriptural 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  81 

observance  of  the  Lord's-day  is  not  hopeful.  The 
destruction  of  the  Sabbath  advances  rapidly." 

In  August,  1895,  the  Christian  Statesman  said: 
"The  nation  has  never  witnessed  such  a  carnival  of 
Sabbath-desecration  as  we  are  having  this  present 
summer."  To  this  was  added  many  instances  of 
flagrant  disregard  for  Sunday  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
elsewhere.  In  September  following  the  same  general 
statements  were  repeated.  In  this  exposure  of  decay 
in  Pennsylvania,  the  Statesman  gave  testimony 
doubly  damaging.  In  no  state  has  the  legal  protec- 
tion of  Sunday  been  greater,  or  more  persistent.  In 
none  has  intolerance  toward  those  who  observe  the 
Sabbath  been  more  pronounced  and  bitter.  On  that 
point,  intolerance  has  always  been  at  the  front  in 
that  state. 

In  May,  1896,  the  Christian  Intelligencer 
declared  that,  wath  the  mass  of  the  people,  Sunday 
had  become  the  ''Chief  HolidaA^"  and  the  summer 
of  1896  surpassed  all  preceding  summers  in  the 
great  tide  of  pleasure  seekers  in  and  about  New 
York.  Here  is  the  terse  description  of  the  Intelli- 
gencer:  "It  is  a  day  given  to  pleasure,  and  recrea- 
tion, so-called,  a  dusty,  noisy  day,  crowned  with 
discomfort." 

In  July,  1897,  the  Interior  ms.6.G  so  complete  an 
avowal  of  the  death  of  Sunday  that  we  give  it 
entire.  It  was  headed,  "The  Passing  of  the  Sab- 
bath," and  runs  as  follows  :  "It  has  long  been 
evident  that  the  '  Continental  Sunday '  has  super- 
seded  the  Sabbath  in   the    large  cities.      It  is  the 


82  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

harvest-daj^  of  the  daily  papers,  and,  in  summer,  of 
the  suburban  railways;  and  as  for  the  bicycles, every 
smooth  road  for  a  score  of  miles  around  swarms 
w4th  them.  All  this  pleasure  seeking  involves  an 
enormous  amount  of  labor — and  Sunday  labor  is 
always  better  paid  than  week-day.  In  an  excellent 
article  the  Banner  quotes  a  description  of  a  military 
dress-parade  in  Canton,  Ohio,  on  the  Sabbath,  which 
attracted  large  crowds  and  kept  the  police  busy. 
This  seems  to  indicate  that  the  inland  cities  and 
smaller  towns  are  going  over  to  the  Continental 
Sunday.  This  means  more  than '  Sabbath-breaking,' 
whicb  the  churchless  regard  as  onh^  the  violation  of 
ecclesiastical  regulations,  no  more  binding  upon 
outsiders  than  the  rules  of  a  Greek-letter  society-. 
It  means  an  increase  of  the  saloon,  and  the  theater, 
and  of  gambling,  and  a  decrease  of  the  sense  of  moral 
obligation.     That  is  why  it  is  so  serious." 

One  item  from  these  statements  b\'  the  Interior 
should  be  carefully  noted ;  namely,  that  Sunday 
labor  is  well  paid.  This  statement  is  fully  supported 
by  the  statistics  from  the  report  of  Commissioner 
Wright  of  Massachusetts,  given  in  another  place. 
These  facts  are  a  just  condemnation  of  those  super- 
ficial and  half-informed  writers  who  are  accustomed 
to  say  that :  "  Sunday  labor  means  seven  days'  work 
for  six  days'  pay." 

The  year  1897  was  crowded  with  telling  testi- 
monv  from  Presb^'terian  sources.  In  November  the 
Intelligencer  reported  open  and  constant  desecration 
of  Sunday  by   political  leaders  in   New  York,  in  a 


PRESBYTERIAN  TESTIMONY.  83 

campaign  then  in  progress.  This  had  a  meaning  of 
double  interest,  since  those  men  to  whom  Sunday 
w^as  nothing  were  the  men  who  were  then  controll- 
ing, as  they  still  continue  to  control,  the  law-making 
and  the  law-executing  forces  of  the  great  city,  and 
the  greater  state.  In  the  hands  of  such  men  lies  the 
destiny-  of  Sunday  laws,  and,  worst  of  all,  of  that 
double  curse,  the  saloon,  on  Sundays,  and  all  other 
days.  Rev.  A.  E.  Myers  of  the  Marble  Collegiate 
Church,  New  York,  preached  a  sermon  in  August  of 
that  year,  in  which  he  announced  the  deca^^  of  Sun- 
da\^  in  strong  terms.  He  averred  that  if  the  decay 
should  increase  until  1907,  in  the  ratio  which  had 
marked  the  increase  since  1887,  the  results  would 
startle  the  most  thoughtless.  He  declared  with 
great  emphasis,  "  No  Sabbath,  no  religion,  no 
sanctuary."  In  the  autumn  of  that  year  the  Inte- 
rior reported  that  careful  inquiries  had  elicited  the 
fact  that  the  decay  of  Sunday  in  the  smaller  cities  of 
the  land  was  keeping  pace  with  the  decay  in  the 
larger  ones.  In  November  the  Christian  Ende^vorer 
said  that  "Three  millions  of  people  in  the  United 
States  labor  every  SundaA^"  Other  estimates  made 
by  the  friends  of  Sunday  place  the  number  much 
higher.  But  the  £^72r7eaForer  added,  "  The  majority 
of  church  members  are  either  indifferent  to  this  fact, 
and  to  the  interests  of  Sundav  reform,  or  are,  as  is 
too  often  the  case,  themselves  Sabbath-desecrators." 
In  August,  1897,  the  Intelligencer  said  that  "on  a 
recent  Sunday"  190,000  pleasure  seekers  going  on 
bicycles,  steamboats,  and  railroads,  congregated  at 


84  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

Coney  Island,  Jamaica,  and  Prospect  Park.  Includ- 
ing other  points  near  New  York  at  the  same  ratio, 
and  that  city  alone  must  have  sent  out  350,000 
pleasure  seekers  on  that  Sunday.  In  November  the 
Intelligencer  again  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  desecration  of  Sunday  "^oes  on  apace,"  by 
means  of  newspapers,  games,  bicycles  and  other 
agencies. 

Some  most  definite  testimony  for  1897  as  to 
apathy  among  the  Christians  whom  the  Christian 
Intelligencer  represents,  was  given  in  October,  in  a 
communication  from  Doctor  Elmendor.  He  reported 
that  although  the  S3mod,  two  years  before,  had 
recommended  that  all  the  churches  should  present 
the  interests  of  the  American  Sabbath  Union,  and 
take  a  collection  for  it,  during  the  month  of  October, 
the  month  had  passed  and  only  one  church  had  con- 
tributed to  the  funds  of  the  Sabbath  Union  during 
the  whole  year.  The  Doctor  added  that  this  apathy 
was  manifest  in  the  presence  of  "  The  greatest  need, 
in  view  of  the  fearful  growth  of  reckless  Sabbath- 
desecration." 

In  November,  Dr.  I.  W.  Hathaway-,  General 
Secretary  of  the  American  Sabbath  Union,  said,  in  a 
communication  to  Christian  Work,  that  Sunday  had 
come  to  be  synon^^mous  with  "Wheelman's  day"; 
that  "hundreds  of  thousands  of  young  men  and 
women"  spend  the  day  on  their  wheels;  that  on  a 
Sunday  not  long  before  one  company  nearly  a  thou- 
sand strong  rode  far  enough  to  "  girdle  the  earth 
nearly  three  times  and  a  half." 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  85 

During  the  summer  of  1897  several  Western 
papers  of  repute  charged  Rev.  T.  D.  Tahxiage  with 
being  in  league  with  Sunday-desecration  through 
complicity  \a  ith  Sunday  trains.  Dr.  Talmage  made 
an  ''explanation,"  on  the  strength  of  which  other 
papers  attempted  to  vindicate  him.  These  efforts 
drew  out  the  following  from  a  correspondent  of  the 
Advance  for  November,  1897,  who  wrote  over  the 
signature  "  N.  L.  P.,"  and  said  : 

"  The  note  in  the  Advance  of  October  7,  excusing 
Dr.  Talmage  for  Sabbath-desecration,  is  "too  thin" 
for  those  who  live  in  Northern  Iowa.  We  are 
encouraged  to  learn  that  the  protest  has  become 
sufficiently  strong  to  receive  attention  from  the 
noted  lecturer.  Several  years  ago  when  he  spoke  on 
Sunday  at  Clear  Lake,  he  pleaded  ignorance  of  the 
fact  that  his  hearers  were  to  come  on  Sunday  excur- 
sion trains.  We  could  excuse  him  the  first  time,  but 
to  plead  the  same  ignorance  again  after  he  had  been 
well-informed  is  not  so  plausible.  Besides,  a  Congre- 
gational pastor  talked  with  him  on  the  subject  at 
Clear  Lake  last  July,  and  told  him  how  his  course' 
was  grieving  the  ministry,  church  and  Christian 
Endeavor  of  Northern  Iowa ;  and  the  Doctor  laughed 
in  his  face,  sneering  at  us  all  as  a  set  of  cranks. 
Now  we  do  feel  that  no  agency  is  more  effectively 
breaking  down  the  Christian  Sabbath  than  the 
practice  of  noted  ministers  like  Dr.  Talmage  and 
Sam  Jones  of  joining  with  the  railroad  companies  in 
encouraging  Sunday  excursions.  It  is  making  the 
Sabbath   simply   a  secular  holiday.       I   am    giving 


86  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

utterance  to  the  Christian  sentiment  of  Iowa,  and 
have  no  doubt  that  all  the  consecrated  gospel  minis- 
ters within  one  hundred  miles  of  Clear  Lake  w^ould 
join  me  in  this  protest." 

One  of  the  strongest  testimonies  during  the  clos- 
ing da^^s  of  1897  w^as  by  that  prince  of  Presbyte- 
rians and  popular  writers,  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.  D. 
He  wrote  first  in  the  Independent  for  December  2,  and 
later  in  other  papers,  upon  "  The  New  St^de  of  Sab- 
bath.'' In  the  Independent,  comparing  Sunda}^  as  it 
is  with  Sunday  as  it  w^as  twenty-five  3^ears  ago,  he 
said  :  "The  life  of  evangelical  religion  was  held  to  be 
indissolubly  linked  with  the  life  of  the  Christian 
churches,  and  this  life  to  be  dependent  on  the  proper 
observance  of  God's  day,  and  of  his  w^orship  in  the 
sanctuary.  A  steady  and  most  deplorable  change 
has  been  going  on  in  these  later  years.  A  new^  style 
of  Sabbath  is  very  plainly  visible  to  every  careiul 
observer;  and  the  spiritual  effects  of  this  lowering  of 
the  Sabbath  tone  are  undeniable.  To  the  church  it 
means — 'heart-failure!'"  Dr.  Cu^der  then  described 
at  length  the  Sunday  newspaper  as  a  prime  agency 
in  the  decay  of  regard  for  Sunday,  descanting  upon 
its  effects  upon  church  services  and  the  consciences  of 
people.  He  quoted  from  "a  very  clear-headed  and 
faithful  pastor  in  a  country  parish,  not  verv  far  from 
one  of  the  largest  cities  in  Massachusetts,"  who  said 
that  the  majority  of  the  people  in  his  parish  neg- 
lected church,  from  pure  "  w^orldliness."  "They 
want  to  go  elsewhere,  and  do  other  things,  or  lovinge 
at  home  over  the  Sunday  newspaper.     The  lower 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  87 

element — the  decidedly  evil-minded  element — I  do 
not  take  into  account.  People  who  belong  to  the 
reputable  class  have  come  to  regard  the  Sabbath  as 
a  day  of  general  convenience  for  all  sorts  of  things 
v^hich  they  cannot  well  attend  to  on  the  six  working 
days."  This  correspondent  of  Dr.  Cuyler  was 
further  quoted  as  having  lateh'  visited  another  rural 
parish  in  Massachusetts  where  things  were  equally 
as  bad,  because  there  is  "a  widespread  disregard  of 
the  claims  of  God's  holy  day  and  of  his  worship. 
Dr.  Cuyler  closed  his  article  with  the  following 
strong  paragraphs : 

"Such  a  testimony  as  this  from  such  a  man  as 
m^'  correspondent  is  a  danger-signal  of  a  very 
alarming  character.  It  reveals  the  fact — confirmed 
from  other  sources — that  the  good  old  New  England 
Sabbath  is  losing  its  hold  on  the  popular  conscience. 
A  new  st^de  of  Sabbath  is  coming  in — a  Sabbath 
that  begins  with  a  huge  secular  newspaper  instead 
of  the  Bible,  that  fills  the  roads  and  parks  with 
bicycles  headed  aw^a^^  from  any  church,  that  prefers 
a  visit  to  a  neighbor  to  an  interview  with  Christ 
Jesus — a  Sabbath  that  has  no  spiritual  savor,  and 
which  puts  the  things  that  are  temporal  above  the 
things  that  are  eternal.  Piety  dwindles  and  dwarfs 
in  the  atmosphere  of  such  a  desecrated  Lord's-day. 
Let  us  take  warning  from  German3'',  where  Protest- 
antism is  fearfully  crippled  by  a  false  conception  of 
the  Sabbath;  in  its  chief  cities  not  over  one-fifth  of 
the  nominal  Protestant  population  enters  God's 
house  on  God's  own  and  onh^  day  for  his  worship! 


88  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

**  Have  Christians  no  responsibility^  for  the  subtle 
growth  of  this  new  style  of  Sabbath?  Do  our  pul- 
pits emphasize  sufficiently  the  tremendous  truth 
that  the  Creator  owns  the  Sabbath,  and  that  rob- 
bery of  him  means  ruin  to  ourselves?  Do  most  of 
our  church  members  keep  the  Lord's-day  as  sacred 
and  as  sweet  as  they  ought  to  do?  The  very  life  of 
the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  is  intertwined  with  the 
life  of  the  Sabbath ;  the  decay  of  the  one  means  slow 
death  to  the  other !  We  are  talking  about  revivals ; 
let  us  pray  and  work  and  act  for  a  revival  of  God's 
day." 

Following  in  the  lead  of  Dr.  Cuyler,  Secretary 
Hathaway,  of  the  American  Sabbath  Union,  in  the 
Intelligencer  for  December  8,  1897,  wrote  at  length 
under  this  head :  "  Have  we  an  American  Sabbath  ?  " 
He  said  that  a  great  and  serious  change  had  taken 
place  in  the  general  regard  for  Sunday  within  the 
last  twenty-five  3^ears.  The  downward  trend  had 
increased  greatly  within  the  last  ten  years.  Among 
the  causes  for  this  decay  Mr.  Hathaway  gave  these : 

''  First,  there  are  many  who  cloak  their  Sabbath- 
desecration  under  the  assumed  notion  that  the 
Christian  Sunday  is  not  the  Sabbath  of  the  Deca- 
logue. They  say  that  whatever  may  be  the  author- 
ity and  binding  force  of  the  fourth  commandment,  it 

does  not  apply  to  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

***** 

"There  is  a  very  widespread,  silent — but  deep — 
current  of  unbelief  in  the  fourth  commandment,  as 
covering  the  first  day  of  the  week.     How  else  can  we 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  89 

account  for  the  fact  that  while  the  majority  of  men 
in  Christian  lands  admit,  without  a  question,  the 
law  of  the  Decalogue,  as  related  to  idolatry,  murder, 
theft  and  adulter\',  they  question  the  authority  of 
the  fourth  commandment,  and  appear  to  think 
themselves  at  libert\^  to  use  or  abuse  the  Sabbath- 
da^^  disobey  this  law,  as  their  feelings  or  inclination 
ma3'  prompt,  without  realizing  that  they  are  doing 
violence  to  their  moral  and  spiritual  being?  " 

This  sort  of  testimony  from  Presbyterians  found 
repetition  and  expansion  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  American  Sabbath  Union,  in  1897.  This  society 
was  organized  in  1888,  w^ith  the  late  E.  F.  Shepherd 
as  president.  It  was  prompted  by  certain  action  on 
the  part  of  the  Methodist  General  Conference  in 
April  of  that  year.  The  president  was  its  main 
financial  supporter.  After  his  death  it  declined  in 
operations  and  in  influence.  Then  came  the  death  of 
its  general  secretary,  J.  H.  Knowles,  and  for  a  time 
the  Union  had  litlte  more  than  a  nominal  existence. 
In  May,  1897,  an  effort  was  made  to  revive  the 
Union,  and  the  Rev.  I.  W.  Hathaway  became  its 
general  secretary.  The  Ninth  Annual  Meeting  was 
held  on  the  19th  of  December,  1897,  at  the  Central 
Presbyterian  church,  New  York.  The  attendance 
was  the  usual  Sunday  evening  congregation.  Dr.  T. 
L.  Cuyler  made  the  address  ;  theme,  "  The  New  Sab- 
bath." It  was  an  expansion  of  an  article  from  his 
pen  in  the  Independent  of  December  2,  1897.  Dr. 
Cuyler  is  a  stalwart  Presb^^terian.  Theoretically, 
he  and  the  Union  stand  on  the  Puritan  platform,  un- 


90  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

modified.  The  whole  service,  from  the  Scripture 
lesson— Nehemiah's  contest  with  Sabbath-breakers 
at  Jerusalem — to  the  close,  assumed  that  Sunda\^  is 
the  "Bible  Sabbath,"  and  finds  its  warrant  and 
authority  in  the  fourth  commandment.  It  was 
repeatedly  said,  and  with  double  emphasis,  that  the 
Union  stands  for  the  restoration  of  Sunday  as  God's 
day;  as  sacred  to  him  and  to  his  worship.  The 
hearers  were  uro^ed  to  study  the  Sabbath  question 
from  the  Bible,  and  to  settle  all  matters  relative  to 
it  by  the  Word  of  God.  Dr.  Cuyler  declared  that  the 
Bible,  the  Sunday  and  the  Republic  must  stand  or 
fall  together.  The  address  w^as  earnest,  eloquent, 
and  in  marked  contrast  with  the  apathy  of  Chris- 
tians in  oreneral. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Sabbath  Recorder,  writ- 
ing of  the  meeting  said:  "The  enemies  of  Sunday 
were  portrayed  and  denounced  in  strong  terms. 
'  The  tremendous  power  of  the  Sunday  press '  was 
dwelt  upon  with  unsparing  rhetoric,  and  unmistak- 
able English.  'The  tremendous  evil  influence  of  the 
Sunday  bicycle '  was  pictured  as  an  army  of  young 
people  wheeling  awa}^  from  the  house  of  God  'with 
the  devil  leading  the  run,  and  an  imp  on  every 
wheel.'  'The  tremendous  wickedness  of  social  visit- 
ing on  Sunday'  was  sharply  arraigned,  and  Chris- 
tians were  warned  and  condemned  for  their  part  in 
it.  There  was  not  a  hopeful  note  in  the  address  so 
far  as  the  tide  of  influence  is  concerned,  which  is 
rushing  Sunday  'down,  down,  DOWN!'  Leonard 
Bacon   and   other  thoughtful   men   say,   '  Sunda\^  is 


PRESBYTERIAN   TESTIMONY.  91 

lost.'  Dr.  Ctivler  did  not  put  it  in  those  words  ;  bnt 
the  facts  which  he  set  forth  and  bewailed  were  posi- 
.tive  proof  that  Leonard  Bacon  is  right.  We  have 
been  a  listener  at  almost  every  annual  meeting  of 
the  Union  since  its  first  convention  in  Washington  in 
1888,  when  its  avowed  purpose  was  to  push  the 
interest  of  the  'Blair'  Sunday  bill,  then  before  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States.  In  no  meeting  has  so 
much  been  said  which  indicates  the  hopeless  loss  of 
the  '  Sunday  Sabbath  '  as  in  the  meeting  on  the  19th. 
Secretary  Knowles,  at  the  close  of  a  meeting  in 
Ocean  Grove  a  few  years  since,  said  to  the  writer: 
'  If  we  cannot  stop  this  downward  drift,  I  had  much 
rather  the  Christian  church  should  adopt  the  posi- 
tion you  occupy,  and  become  Seventh-day  Baptists.' 
Every  fact  brought  out  in  the  meeting  we  are 
describing  emphasized  the  truth  that  the  downward 
drift  increases  year  by  year,  in  spite  of  all  the  plead- 
ing and  protesting  of  the  good  people  who  are 
trying  in  vain  to  escape  the  truth  of  God's  Book, 
and  of  all  experience,  i.  e.,  '  Whatsoever  a  man  sow^- 
eth  that  shall  he  also  reap.'  These  religious  leaders, 
with  men  like  Dr.  Cu3'ler  at  the  head,  without 
designing  it,  persist  in  trampling  on  the  true  Bible 
Sabbath,  God's  day,  and  then  moaning  over  the  ruin 
of  conscience  which  their  own  error  has  wrought. 
They  assume  that  Sunday  is  the  Bible  Sabbath. 
This  is  non-fact;  and  no  amount  of  goodness  or  of 
devotion,  or  of  offering  God  Sunday  in  the  dress  of 
his  disregarded  Sabbath,  can  avail  to  check  the 
decay  which  is  gnawing  at  the  life  of  Sunday.     The 


92  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

law  of  God,  crowned  with  the  lightning-carved  sanc- 
tions of  Sinai,  the  example  of  Christ  and  of  the  New 
Testament  church,  and  the  bitter  fruitage  of  error 
persisted  in,  or  compromised  with,  unite  to  call  the 
'  Earnest  Friends  of  Sunday '  back  to  the  true  Sab- 
bath of  Jehovah.  If  they  will  heed  and  obe\%  well. 
If  the3^  will  not,  all  Sa.bbathism  will  soon  have  gone 
down  and  out  in  the  drift  which  is  resistless  because 
Sunday  was  born  with  the  germs  of  decay  from 
which  nothing  can  free  it." 

The  testimon3^  given  in  this  chapter  represents 
the  best  Christian  culture  and  conscience  in  the 
Protestant  churches  of  the  United  States.  While  the 
witnesses  do  not  seem  to  apprehend  the  true  causes 
which  have  made  this  decay  inevitable,  they  do  see 
the  fact  that  it  hastens,  and  that  all  their  efforts  to 
turn  it  aside  fail.  Great  as  the  evils  are  which 
accompany  this  decaA%  and  transition,  good  will 
come  from  them  if  the  friends  of  Sunday  shall  come 
to  see  that  the  compromise  of  the  Puritan  "  Change- 
of-day  theory,"  being  but  a  partial  truth,  carried 
the  growing  germs  of  decay  from  the  hour  of  its 
birth.  If,  seeing  this,  they  shall  turn  back  to  the 
Bible  and  complete  the  reform  which  was  begun  by 
their  Puritan  ancestors,  but  was  cut  short  b^^  the 
compromise,  true  "Sabbath"  Reform  will  be  at 
hand,  and  the  power  of  the  Law  of  God  will  be  in  it. 
If  Protestants  do  not  thus  turn  back,  Sabbath 
Reform  will  be  lost,  as  the  Sunday  is  already  lost,  in 
the  sea  of  holidavism. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TESTIMONY   FROM  EPISCOPALIAN  SOURCES. 

Quotations  from  Our  Diocesan  Work — "  vSabbath  Breaker  "  not  a  Term 
of  Reproach — St.  Mark'' s  Messenger  o^woX^t^ — "Appalling"  Disre- 
gard for  Sunday — A  Day  of  Dissipation — Indifferent  Christians  are 
Criminal  —  Episcopal  Recorder  quoted  —  Sunday- Desecration  a 
Growing  Sin — Rev.  S.  D.  McConnell,  D.  D.,  in  Outlook — Disregard 
for  Sunday  Marks  a  New  Epoch  in  Christian  History — Church- 
Going  Decreasing — Roman  Catholics  Affected  Less  than  Protestants 
— Not  One-sixth  of  the  Churches  in  New  York  City  Filled  on  vSun- 
day — Masses  are  Indifferent  to  the  Churches — Social  and  Religious 
Habits  are  Reversed — "  .Sabbath  Tradition  "  is  Passing  Out  of  Mind 
— Sanctions  of  Sunday  Swept  Away — No  Sense  of  Wrong  When 
Sunday  is  Disregarded — No  Such  Situation  For  the  Last  Fourteen 
Hundred  Years — Public  Opinion  No  Longer  Compels  Regard  for 
Sunday — Disputes  About  Forms  and  Creeds  are  Childish  in  Pres- 
ence of  Such  Dangers. 

TNASMUCH  as  the  Church  of  England,  and  its 
American  counterpart,  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  never  adopted  Puritan  views  concerning 
Sunday,  the  adherents  of  that  communion  have  not 
been  as  much  affected  by  the  deca\^  of  regard  for  Sun- 
da^^  as  Puritan  Protestants  have.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  testimony  from  Episcopalian  sources  which 
is  important. 

Our  Diocesan  Work,  Richmond,  Va.,  June,  1883, 
contained  a  number  of  pointed  utterances  concern- 
ing the  question  of  Sunday-observance.  We  extract 
part  of  the  report  of  the  "  Committee  on  the  state  of 
the  church"  : 

"The  matter  of  Sunday-observance  is  one  that 
involves  increasing  peril  to  the  cause  of  morals   and 


94  DECADENCE    OF   SUx\DAY. 

religion,  and  your  committee  earnestly  recommend 
that  it  be  made  a  more  frequent  subject  of  exhorta- 
tion and  instruction  from  the  pulpit.  We  notice  a 
looseness  in  the  observance  of  this  holy  da^^,  a  dispo- 
sition to  make  it  a  day  chiefly  of  carnal  recreation 
and  enjoyment,  that  quite  prepares  us  to  expect 
along  with  it  a  doubt  or  denial  of  the  divine  obliga- 
tion of  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  as  one  of  the  funda- 
mental moral  laws  of  the  divine  government.  When 
Sabbath-breaker  has  ceased  to  be  a  term  of  obloquy, 
or  designates  only  a  violation  of  the  civil  regula- 
tions concerning  the  day  of  rest,  thus  reducing  a 
divine  ordinance  to  a  human,  wx  are  no  longer  sur- 
prised to  find  a  similar  disregard  of  other  moral 
restraints  and  obtuseness  of  conscience  to  other 
divine  ordinances.  We  rejoice  to  see,  therefore,  in 
the  International  Sabbath  Association,  evidence 
that  Christian  society  is  becoming  alarmed  at  the 
prevalence  of  this  non-observance  of  the  holy  day, 
and  are  moving  unitedly  toward  a  correction  of  this 
evil.  We  must  fully  recognize  this  truth,  and  empha- 
size it,  that  attendance  on  divine  w^orship  once  a 
day,  and  refraining  from  customary  secular  occupa- 
tions, does  not  fill  out  the  full  measure  of  the  injunc- 
tion to  '  remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy.' 
.  .  .  We  earnestly  press  upon  our  clergy  and  laity 
the  dutv  of  doing  w^hat  in  them  lies  to  form  a 
healthy  public  sentiment  against  this  evil,  and  to 
insist  upon  the  great  principle  that  the  Sabbath 
being  made  for  man,  man  is  entitled,  and  all  men 
should  be  free,  to  enjoy  the  Sabbath." 


EPISCOPALIAN   TESTIMONY.  95 

St.  Mark's  Messenger,  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in 
1885,  said:  *' The  pass  to  which  we  have  come  in 
the  violation  of  all  Sabbath  law,  both  human  and 
divine,  in  this  city  is  appalling  to  contemplate.  It 
is  a  disgrace  to  our  boasted  civilization,  and  has 
justly  given  St.  Louis  a  fame  for  wickedness  all  over 
the  land.  On  the  Sabbath  the  city  virtually  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  godless  and  lawless.  To  thousands, 
many  of  them  young  men,  the  day  is  not  even  a  daA- 
of  physical  rest,  but  of  dissipation,  waste  and  crime. 
Every  right  sense  is  violated,  every  principle  that 
conserves  the  good  of  society  is  overthrown,  and 
every  force  that  has  for  its  object  the  regeneration  of 
human  nature  and  the  ennorjling  of  human  life,  is 
scoffed  and  set  at  naught  by  the  Sabbath-breaker. 
The  Christian  who  can  look  upon  this  state  of 
things  and  read  what  is  to  come  of  it  in  the  history 
of  the  past  without  pain,  may  well  question  the 
character  of  his  faith.  Surely  he  is  not  a  witness  for 
the  truth  of  his  Master." 

The  Episcopal  Recorder,  of  April  21,  1882,  said: 
"Sunday-desecration  is  one  of  the  great  and  grow- 
ing sins  of  the  present  da^^  and  the  church  of  Christ 
should  wake  up  on  the  subject,  and  as  Christians 
who  love  the  cause  of  the  Redeemer,  and  desire  to 
see  his  kingdom  hastened,  and  as  citizens  who  desire 
the  prosperity  of  our  country,  stand  by  it,  and  plead 
for  it,  and  demand  that  that  law  which  is  of  divine 
appointment,  and  which  was  written  by  God  upon 
tables  of  stone  on  the  cloud-capped  summit  of 
Mount  Sinai,  and  brought  down  to  his  people  by  his 


96  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

servant  Moses,  be  observed,  and  that  at  the  Colum- 
bian Exhibition  'the  Sabbath-day  be  remembered 
and  kept  holy.'" 

But  the  most  important  testimony,  and  that 
which  will  pay  for  re-reading,  is  from  the  pen  of  Rev. 
S.  D.  McConnell,  D.  D.,  Rector  of  Holy  Trinity 
church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  It  appeared  in  the  Outlook 
for  January  15,  1898,  over  the  title,  "The  Church  in 
Modern  Society."  Here  is  the  article  entire.  All 
that  it  says  is  germane  to  the  question  of  the  decay 
of  regard  for  Sunday.  The  writer  takes  a  broad  sur- 
vey of  the  field  involved  in  Protestant  histor3^  Mr. 
McConnell  says : 

"It  begins  to  be  evident  that  the  church  has 
entered  upon  a  new  epoch.  The  place  and  function 
in  society  which  have  been  accorded  her  for  a  long 
time  are  rapidly  undergoing  a  radical  change.  Of 
course,  for  the  purposes  of  this  paper,  I  use  the  word 
church  in  its  widest  sense.  Possibly  '  the  churches ' 
would  be  a  better  phrase,  but  I  do  not  like  it.  What 
I  have  in  mind  is  to  call  attention  to  some  broad 
facts  which  concern  alike  all  organized  Christianity. 
The  fortunes  of  Anglican,  Reformed  and  Roman  are 
all  involved  in  the  same  issues. 

"It  will  be  agreed  on  all  hands  that  the  charac- 
teristic action  of  Christianity  as  an  institution  is  its 
public  worship  in  church  on  the  Lord's-day.  One 
can  conceive  the  existence  of  a  church  w^hich  had  no 
formulated  creed,  or  no  machinery  for  beneficence,  or 
which  should  leave  much  to  be  desired  in  the  per- 
sonal lives  of  its  members,  but  one  cannot  imagine 


EPISCOPALIAN   TESTIMONY.  97 

a  church  which  does  not  attempt  to  bring  its  people 
together  on  Sunday  for  pubHc  pra3^er,  sacraments 
and  teaching. 

"Now,  it  is  clear  to  any  one  who  \yill  look,  that 
people  do  not  go  to  church  as  generally  as  they  once 
did.  The  percentage  of  non-church-goers  in  the  com- 
munity has  been  steadily  increasing  for  more  than  a 
generation,  and  within  the  last  ten  years  we  have 
seen  something  which  looks  like  "the  letting  out  of 
waters."  Speaking  broadh^  the  churches  are  but 
meagerly  attended.  There  are  exceptions,  of  course. 
The  Roman  Catholic  churches  have  not  3^et  been 
serioush^  affected  b}^  the  change,  but  even  the\'  have 
not  been  without  their  warning.  There  are  in  the 
new  New  York  about  twelve  hundred  places  of  pub- 
lic worship.  Not  one-sixth  of  them  are  filled ;  not 
one-half  of  them  are  half  filled  at  the  Sunday'  service 
during  the  winter  months,  while  during  summer  one- 
third  of  them  are  practically  closed,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Roman  Catholic,  the  rest  are  prac- 
tically empt3^  Nor  is  this  peculiar  to  the  metropolis. 
In  an  average  New  England  country  town,  or  a 
Kansas  or  California  village,  less  than  one-half  of 
the  people  are  to  be  found  in  church  on  Sunday. 

"Society  is  coming,  if  it  has  not  already  come,  to 
look  upon  the  Christian  church  in  a  way  which  has 
not  been  known  for  fifteen  centuries.  It  is  not 
hostile;  it  is  indifferent.  But  few  realize  what  a  new 
thing  historically  this  temper  is.  That  it  is  a  new 
thing  will  appear  upon  a  very  little  reflection.  The 
United  States    is  the  only    country    in    the    world 


98  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

wherein  organized  society'  takes  no  account  of 
organized  religion.  Elsewhere,  throughout  Chris- 
tendom, the  church  is  either  established,  endowed, 
subsidized,  or  recognized  in  concordat  or  treaty. 
Here,  and  here  alone,  she  is  left  to  one  side  by  the 
social  order.  Btit  this  is  only  because  we  are  a  little 
further  along  in  the  direction  of  movement  than  are 
the  other  countries.  All  are  coming  to  this  point; 
but  we  have  reached  it. 

"But  what  a  profound  reversal  of  social  habit 
this  is  I  In  the  fifth  century  Christianity  became  the 
religion  of  the  empire,  and  the  state  began  by  one 
method  and  another  to  build  churches,  to  maintain 
them,  and  to  constrain  people  to  attend  them.  By 
the  Middle  Ages  this  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  the 
natural  and  divine  order  of  things.  The  force  of 
statute,  the  resources  of  taxation,  the  power  of  com- 
mon law,  could  all  be  appealed  to  in  the  interest  of 
the  church.  This  condition  of  things  continued 
through  fourteen  hundred  3^ears.  It  survived  even 
in  theory  till  about  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  continued  practically  up  to  our  own 
generation.  Now  it  is  gone.  The  church  can  no 
longer  lean  upon  secular  society.  Coercion  in  every 
form  has  been  abandoned.  Civil  society  does  not 
regard  the  church  as  it  did  in  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine,  Charlemagne,  Laud,  or  Cotton  Mather.  It  is 
possible  that  society  is  more  Christian,  but  it  surely 
is  less  churchl3^  Do  the  leaders  of  the  church  at  all 
realize  what  a  revolution  has  occurred? 

"But  a  practice  which  lasted  through  so  many 


EPISCOPALIAN   TESTIMONY.  99 

generations  could  not  but  leave  its  impress  upon  the 
habits  and  customs  of  society.  The  provision  in  our 
constitution  that  '  Congress  shall  make  no  law  con- 
cerning religion '  did  not  immediately  change  the 
situation.  From  sheer  force  of  habit  people  contin- 
ued for  a  long  time  to  act  much  as  they  had  acted 
while  secular  society  upheld  the  church.  A  sort  of 
social  constraint  took  the  pl^cce  of  legal  coercion. 
In  the  earlier  new  settlements  of  this  county  the  peo- 
ple built  their  own  churches,  and  built  them  almost 
as  soon  as  they  did  their  houses,  and  before  they 
built  their  school-houses  and  town  halls.  It  was 
rare  to  find  a  famih^  which  had  no  '  church  connec- 
tion.' Such  a  family  was  looked  at  askance,  and 
was  deemed  to  be  in  some  vague  way  lacking  in 
respectability.  This  condition  of  things  still  sur- 
vives in  some  measure  in  outlying  communities  and 
some  small  towns  and  cities,  but,  taking  the  country 
throughout,  it  has  passed  away.  The  new  settle- 
ments in  the  West  and  the  new  suburbs  in  the  cities 
are  not  forward  in  building  themselves  churches. 
The\'  make  their  homes,  then  their  school-houses, 
then  their  public  buildings,  and  the  church  comes 
last,  and  usually  does  not  come  at  all  until  some 
missionary  from  an  older  community  arrives  to 
press  the  duty,  arid  until  money  comes  from  an  older 
community  to  help  pay  for  it.  Nor  does  a  family 
lose  caste  from  lack  of  church  affiliation.  In  a 
w^ord,  the  social  constraint  which  used  to  operate 
in  the  church's  interest  has  become  feeble  where  it 
has  not  entirely  disappeared.      Do  the    leaders   of 


100  DECADENCE    OE   SUNDAY. 

the  church  realize  what  a  powerful   ally   the\'   have 
lost  ? 

"Furthermore,  we  are  at  the  point  where  'the 
Sabbath  tradition  '  is  passing  out  of  sight.  While  it 
is  true  that  our  own  church  has  never  given  her 
assent  to  the  Puritan  or  Hebrew  tradition  of  the 
Sabbath-day,  we  have,  nevertheless,  lived  in  a  coun- 
tr_y  where  we  have  sucked  from  that  tradition  no 
small  advantage.  It  may  fairly  be  said  to  have  been 
an  American  tradition.  Even  when  it  has  not 
affected  belief  it  has  controlled  conduct.  Our  church 
bells  have  during  a  century  rung  out  upon  the  still 
air  of  succeeding  Sundays,  and  have  caught  the  ear 
of  multitudes  who  would  not  have  heard  or  heeded 
except  for  the  Puritan  tradition.  Business  has  been 
suspended  and  amusement  tabooed  because  it  was 
*  the  Sabbath-day,'  and  people  had  been  taught  that 
to  work  or  to  play  on  that  day  was  blasphemv. 
But  the  passing  of  time,  the  immigration  of  popula- 
tions which  had  no  Sabbath  tradition,  the  discovery 
that  the  Puritan  Sabbath  did  not  actually  rest  upon 
either  Holy  Scripture  or  good  history — all  these 
things  have  resulted  in  bringing  in  a  profound 
change  in  the  way  of  regarding  Sunda^^  A  change 
in  social  custom  has  followed.  It  followed  slowly, 
and  for  a  long  while  attracted  little  attention.  But 
barriers  of  social  habit  give  way  as  do  those  which 
dam  waters.  At  first  a  tiny  stream  escapes,  and 
looks  innocent  enough,  then  another  and  another, 
and  at  last  all  goes  with  a  rush.  We  are  near  the 
time  when  the  social  sanctity  which  has  for  so  long 


EPISCOPALIAN   TESTIMONY.  101 

hedged  in  Sunday  will  be  sw^ept  away.  Indeed,  a 
revolution  has  alreadj^  occurred,  but  it  has  occurred 
so  silently  that  it  has  transformed  society  without 
our  notice.  Contrast  the  Sunday  situation  of  New 
York  or  Philadelphia  of  even  ten  years  ago  with 
that  of  to-day.  Even  then  on  Sundav  it  seemed  as 
though  active  secular  life  had  stopped  within  the 
cit3"  and  a  wall  had  been  built  around  it.  Few  could 
escape  the  city  limits  even  if  they  had  wished.  In 
summer  a  few  excursion  trains  ran  to  the  seashore, 
and  that  was  about  all.  Places  of  amusement 
within  the  city  w^ere  closed,  and  the  recreations 
which  now  engage  tens  of  thousands  were  not 
invented.  People  went  to  church,  if  for  no  better 
reason,  because  there  was  nothing  else  to  do.  They 
grew  tired  of  walking  about  the  streets  by  day  and 
sitting  in  their  houses  all  evening.  A  'popular 
preacher'  was  a  godsend;  a  'musical  service'  was 
an  escape  from  ennui.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  fol- 
lowing a  multitude  to  do  good  as  well  as  to  do  evil. 
Now,  how  the  situation  is  changed!  Trolley  lines 
run  out  into  the  country  in  every  direction.  Good 
roads  have  been  built,  and  now  glisten  and  radiate 
in  every  direction  as  the  straight  threads  of  a  new 
spider-web  shine  in  the  morning  dew.  It  is  prob- 
ably speaking  within  bounds  to  say  that  between 
May  and  November  a  million  people  go  out  ofNew^ 
York  every  Sunday,  by  rail,  trolle^^  pleasure-boat 
and  wheel.  Ten  years  ago  the  number  was  hardly 
one-tenth  so  great.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  many 
thousands  of  these  did  not  go  to  church  then,  but  it 


102  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

is  equally  true  that  tens  of  thousands  of  them  did. 
But  what  is  far  more  significant  is  that  those  who 
went  out  to  play  on  Sunday  at  the  earlier  date  did 
so  with  the  vague  consciousness  that  they  were  in 
some  way  doing  wrong,  or  that  at  least  the3^  were 
going  against  the  best  public  opinion.  Those  who 
go  to-day  do  not,  as  a  rule,  have  any  such  feeling.  All 
idea  of  wrong-doing  has  disappeared  from  such 
action.  The  day  is  spent  in  pleasure — of  course  I 
speak  only  of  those  pleasures  which  are  intrinsically 
innocent — without  any  sense  of  violence  done  to  their 
consciences.  The  amusements  are  announced  and 
entered  upon  quite  openly.  On  a  Saturda^^  column 
after  column  is  given  by  the  newspapers  to  notices 
of  the  '  Sunday  runs  '  of  the  following  day.  Not  long 
ago  a  single  bicycle  club  left  New  York  on  Sunda3^ 
morning  for  a  day  in  the  countr\',  seven  hundred 
stronsf.  There  were  not  a  hundred  churches  in  the 
city  whose  congregations  that  same  morning  aver- 
aged as  many. 

"The  whole  situation  is  new.  It  is  one  which 
the  church  has  not  confronted  for  fourteen  centuries. 
From  this  time  forward  she  is  called  upon  to  do  her 
work  in  the  midst  of  a  society  whose  habits,  whose 
prepossessions,  whose  very  conscience  differs  pro- 
foundly from  that  which  she  has  known  so  long.  As 
members  of  Christ's  church  we  have  now  been 
brought  face  to  face  with  a  situation  whose  gravity 
cannot  be  exaggerated.  There  is  a  sort  of  obstinate 
skepticism  which  will  lead  many  good  churchmen  to 
doubt  that  so  changed  a  condition  of  things  could 


EPISCOPALIAN   TESTIMONY.  103 

come  in  so  suddenly.  They  will  accuse  of  fanc}^  and 
exaggeration  an^^  one  who  describes  things  as  they 
are.  The  reply  is,  it  has  not  been  sudden,  save  as  all 
new  phases  of  nature  or  society  are  sudden.  The 
new  phase  always  appears  suddenly,  because  the 
causes  of  it  have  been  long  at  work.  When  the  cry 
of  *  separation  between  church  and  state '  w^as  raised 
four  centuries  ago,  neither  party  had  much  concep- 
tion of  w^hat  such  separation  would  imply.  Now 
society  w^akes  up  to  see  that  on  that  principle  it 
has  no  obligation  to  the  church  as  such ;  and  the 
church  is  reminded  that  as  such  she  has  no  claim 
upon  society. 

"We  are  being  pushed,  or  led,  back  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  primitive  church.  That  w^as  a  voluntary 
association  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  living  and  act- 
ing in  the  midst  of  a  society"  which  took  no  account 
of  it  or  its  rules,  except  as  they  were  w^on,  one  at  a 
time,  to  voluntarily  submit  themselves  to  her  disci- 
pline. That  is  what  we  have  nearly  come  to  again. 
The  pressure  of  public  opinion,  the  force  of  use  and 
wont,  the  instinct  of  long-established  custom,  can  no 
longer  be  counted  upon  to  constrain  people  to  keep 
Sunday  or  to  go  to  church.  Under  these  new  condi- 
tions, what  is  the  church  to  say  and  to  do?  Shall 
she  lift  up  her  voice  to  the  multitude  w^ho  are  idling 
or  pla3'ing  on  the  Lord's-day,  and  rebuke  them  for 
'desecrating  the  Sabbath-daj^' ?  Their  retort  is 
unanswerable ;  they  say%  '  You  Christians  are  quite 
at  liberty  to  make  what  regulations  you  please  for 
the  observance  of  this   day  by  your  own  members, 


104-  DECADEN'CE   OF   SUNDAY. 

but  3'ou  have  no  warrant  of  3^our  Master  to  impose 
them  upon  us.'  Shall  she  urge  them  to  go  to  church 
as  a  matter  of  natural  and  universal  duty  ? 
Scarcely ;  she  ma3^  offer  it  as  a  universal  privilege, 
but  as  a  universal  obligation,  no.  Shall  she  say 
with  the  church  at  Rome,  '  Except  you  come  to  the 
church  you  will  be  eternally  dammed  '  ?  Rome  has 
thus  far  found  that  declaration  potent  enough  to 
keep  her  churches  filled — with  those  who  believe  it. 
It  is  open  to  us  to  raise  the  same  cry,  if  we  can  get 
an^^body  to  believe  it.  But  it  is  the  peculiarity  of 
that  cry  that  it  fails  of  all  effect  if  there  be  the  small- 
est hesitation  or  doubtfulness  in  the  tone  of  the  mes- 
senger. 

"  What  shall  we  sa\'  ?  What  shall  the  Christian 
father  say  to  his  well-grown  son  when  he  sees  him 
getting  ready  to  go  to  the  country  for  the  Sunday 
on  his  wheel?  What  shall  the  mother  say  to  her 
daughter  who  has  been  at  church  in  the  morning 
and  who  has  been  invited  to  join  a  sailing  part^^  in 
the  afternoon?  The  question  takes  a  thousand 
phases,  but  essentiallv  it  is  this:  How  shall  the 
Christian  church  adjust  her  discipline  and  her 
methods  to  modern  society?  The  old  adjustment, 
the  one  w^hich  Constantine  arranged  for,  is  about  to 
disappear.  What  shall  take  its  place?  How  shall 
she  fit  her  services,  her  missionary  appeal,  her  disci- 
pline, her  customs,  to  the  changed  conditions  of 
modern  life?  Compared  with  this,  the  things  with 
which  the  churches  are  concerning  themselves  some- 
times seem  paltry  indeed.     W^e  are  disputing  among 


EPISCOPALIAN   TESTIMONY.  105 

ourselves  like  a  lot  of  Roman  pedants  while  the  bar- 
barians are  at  the  gates.  We  are  contending  that 
our  doctrinal  formularies  shall  be  accurately  framed, 
that  our  liturgies  or  our  rejection  of  liturgy  shall  be 
such  as  will  best  serve  for  the  united  worship  of  the 
great  congregation,  that  our  orders  or  our  contempt 
of  orders  shall  express  our  belief  concerning  the 
ministry.  These  things  are  all  important  enough. 
But  it  is  more  important  that  we  should  have  a  con- 
gregation than  that  we  should  have  a  book  of  com- 
mon prayer,  that  there  should  be  a  church  than  that 
there  should  be  a  creed,  that  there  should  be  a  people 
than  that  there  should  be  a  ministr^^" 

Ifanyof  our  readers  have  been  accustomed  to 
think  that  the  question  of  the  deca3'  of  regard  for 
Sunday  is  unimportant,  they  cannot  rise  from  the 
reading  of  Mr.  McConnell's  words  without  the  con- 
viction that  they  have  been  in  error.  The  issues 
which  are  involved  in  the  present  situation  concern- 
ing Sunday  include  the  authority  of  the  Bible,  the 
perpetuation  of  public  \^  orship,  and  the  spiritual  life 
and  development  of  the  churches. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHRISTIANS  ARE  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  THE  DECAY  OF 

REGARD  FOR  SUNDAY. 

Christians  Make  Serious  Charges  Against  Their  Brethren— Sunday  is 
Carrying  Christians  down — False  Teaching  Concerning  Sunday 
Worse  Than  Higher  Criticism — Christian  Advocate  on  Methodist 
Camp-Meetings  and  Sunday-Desecration  —  Congregationalist 
Quoted — The  Interior  on  Desplaines  Camp-Meeting  Association  as 
a  Partner  in  Sunday-Desecration — Association  Made  $i,8oo  on  One 
Sunday— Bishop  Merrill  Called  to  Account— y^w^r/ra;/  Sentinel 
Quoted— Evangel  and  Sabbath  Outlook  Quoted— The  Epworthian 
Publishes  Advertisements  of  Sunday-Breaking  Railrond— CVzwr^/f 
Bulletin  Quoted — Sunday-School  Superintendent  Sells  Goods  on 
Sunday— Sunday-Desecration  by  Camp-Meetings  Does  More  Harm 
Than  "  Conversions  "  do  Good. 

nPHE  general  survey  made,  and  the  facts  collated 
in  the  preceding  chapters  show  that  friends  of 
Sunda^^  make  serious  charges  against  their  fellow- 
Christians.  This  charge,  that  Christians  are  largely 
responsible  for  the  loss  of  Sunda3%  is  made  so  often 
that  it  deserves  special  attention.  But  since  these 
same  Christians  are  not  charged  with  being  sinful  in 
other  matters,  it  is  evident  that  they  are  the  victims 
of  a  fundamental  error  in  regard  to  the  Sabbath  and 
the  Sunday  that  demands  the  revolution  which  we 
plead  for.  Indeed,  it  will  be  seen,  on  careful  study, 
that  this  s\^stem  of  error  is  carrying  Christians 
down  in  spite  of  themselves.  If  general  religious  life 
was  increasing  in  volume,  as  Sunday  declines,  it 
might  be  said  that  w^hat  the  friends  of  Sunday  call 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  107 

decay  is  really  improvement.  But  the  opposite  is 
true.  Attendance  on  public  worship  decreases  in 
proportion  to  the  loss  of  regard  for  Sunday.  This 
begets  a  carelessness,  if  not  an  open  opposition,  to 
God  and  the  Bible.  The  unfair  way  in  which  the 
Bible  has  been  interpreted,  or  rather  perverted,  by 
the  advocates  of  the  Puritan  theory  of  the  change  of 
the  Sabbath,  has  done  more  to  break  down  its  au- 
thority with  Christians  than  the  "  Higher  Criticism  " 
of  which  some  complain.  The  various  errors  in  the 
case  have  combined  to  carry  not  only  Sunday,  but 
many  of  the  chief  interests  of  religion  down,  as  an 
unseaworthy  vessel  carries  all  on  board  to  the  bot- 
tom. Either  these  friends  of  Sunday  are  false 
accusers  of  their  brethren,  or  else  the  greatness  of  the 
error  involved  in  the  attitude  of  Christians  on  the 
Sabbath  question  is  little  appreciated,  and  cannot 
be  overestimated.  We  believe  the  bottom  fact  to  be 
this.  Protestantism  has  fallen  into  as  great  and 
fundamental  error  on  the  Sabbath  question  as  the 
errors  of  the  Catholic  church  were  against  which  the 
Protestant  revolt  began,  and  the  only  way  of  reform 
lies  in  a  radical  revolution.  On  no  other  ground  can 
the  facts  which  follow  be  explained. 

In  a  former  chapter  we  have  given  no  little  testi- 
mony from  the  Christian  Advocate,  New  York, 
against  the  camp-meeting  s^^stem  of  the  Methodists 
for  its  complicity  with  Sunday  railroading.  The 
Advocate  has  convictions,  and  a  pen  that  is  not 
pointless.  For  example,  this:  "The  bishop  who 
preached  against  Sabbath-breaking  and  the  railroad 


108  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

corporations  at  the  camp-meeting,  when  hundreds 
of  the  members  of  his  own  communion  had  left  in 
their  respective  places  of  worship  an  array  of  empty 
pews,  and  filled  special  trains  which  the  manage- 
ment had  asked  the  railroad  corporation  to  furnish, 
and  on  which  they  had  received  a  royalty  for  each 
passenger  carried,  simply  excited  the  contempt  of  the 
worldly-minded . ' ' 

During  the  time  of  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago, 
the  Methodists  were  singled  out  somewhat  sharply 
in  connection  with  the  Sunday  question.  When  the 
Fair  was  open  on  Sunday  the  Epworth  League 
Herald  was  extremely  radical  in  demanding  that  the 
Methodist  "exhibit"  be  covered  wholly  and  contin- 
ually. The  Congregationalist  quoted  the  Herald  as 
follows  :  "We  should  have  asked  permission  to  with- 
draw. If  the  request  were  denied  and  there  seemed 
to  be  no  adequate  legal  redress,  then  the  exhibit  of 
the  great  Methodist  Episcopal  church  should  have 
been  covered  seven  days  in  the  week.  An  enormous 
moral  outrage  has  been  committed,  and  a  denomina- 
tion that  has  always  been  in  the  vanguard  when 
giant  wrongs  were  to  be  assaulted  should  not  now 
be  creeping  along  in  the  rear."  Such  radical  claims 
drew  attention  to  local  facts,  and  t\\€:  Interior  ior 
July  6,  1893,  through  a  correspondent  who  signed 
himself  "A  Methodist  Minister,"  said  that  the 
Desplaines  Camp-meeting  Association  had  received 
"thirty  per  cent  of  all  Sunday  fares  to  and  from  its 
grounds  for  about  twenty  years  past."  Just  what 
this  correspondent    said  is    best  told    in    his    own 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  109 

words.  Here  they  are:  "The  real  blame  of  our 
preachers  is  in  attending  and  preaching  at  the  camp- 
meeting  after  the\^  became  acquainted  with  the  facts. 
No  Methodist,  lay  or  clerical,  can  consistently 
attend,  so  long  as  the  contract  with  the  railroads 
continues  in  force;  and  everj^one  who  goes  is  a  parti- 
ceps  criminis  in  the  sin  and  h^-pocrisy  of  violating 
God's  commandments  in  the  name  of  religion  for  the 
sake  of  gain.  It  is  true  that  the  Association's  share 
ofSunda3^  railroad  earnings  (sometimes  amounting 
to  between  one  and  two  thousand  dollars)  has  not 
been  used  to  enrich  individuals,  but  to  improve  the 
grounds  and  pa\^  the  charges  of  celebrated  Metho- 
dist preachers  from  a  distance;  but  the  pious  end 
does  not  justify  the  wicked  means.  Ten  years  ago 
the  National  Holiness  Association,  consisting  of 
twelve  preachers,  was  emplo^'ed  to  conduct  the 
camp-meeting.  They  took  awa}^  I  was  told,  $1,200 
for  two  weeks'  service.  On  the  second  Sunday  of 
that  meeting  they  claimed  that  there  were  10,000 
people  present — about  8,000  of  whom  went  out  from 
the  city  on  Sunday.  The  round  trip  cost  75  cents 
each,  or  $6,000  in  all,  of  which  the  camp-meeting 
authorities  got  $1,800.  I  Avas  present  on  that  Sun- 
day (I  did  not  know  then  that  the  camp  shared  Sun- 
day receipts  with  the  road),  and  made  some  strict- 
ures on  the  conduct  of  the  crowd.  The  week  follow- 
ing, the  National  Advocate  of  Holiness  said  that 
there  were  two  men  at  the  meeting  who  greath- 
needed  the  pra^^ers  of  all  good  people ;  one  was  the 
baggage-master,     who,     under    sore     provocation, 


110  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

swore  profaneh^ ;  and  the  other  was  the  correspond- 
ent of  the  New  York  Christian  Advocate,  who  had 
criticised  the  proceedings.  The  same  Hohness 
Association  is  this  year  to  hold  a  two  weeks'  meet- 
ing at  Desplaines,  and  unless  the  Interior's  kindly 
admonition  and  the  public  shame  of  the  thing  pre- 
vent, will  get  its  pay  for  preaching  sanctification 
and  Christian  perfection  from  the  camp-meeting's 
share  of  the  revenue  derived  from  Sunday  railroad 
travel. 

It  is  not  only  a  sin  against  God  ;  it  is  a  burning 
shame  and  disgrace  to  Methodism ;  and  an  obstruc- 
tion and  injury  to  all  churches  in  their  efforts  to 
hallow  the  Sabbath.  For  that  reason  the /interior 
has  done  onlv  its  duty  in  calling  attention  to  '  this 
iniquitous  violation  of  the  Sabbath,' and  Methodists 
should  kiss  the  rod  that  smites  them." 

The  Interior,  in  w^hich  the  foregoing  appeared, 
has  a  habit  of  using  forceful  EngHsh.  Concerning 
the  article  it  said,  editorially:  "An  article  in  this 
issue  by  Rev.  Sylvanus  Stall,  an  editor  of  our  con- 
temporary, the  Lutheran  Observer,  goes  to  the  core 
of  the  question  of  the  Sunday-opening.  He  shows 
the  facts  from  which  the  directory  have  drawn  their 
conclusion  that  the  Christian  public  were  not  really 
in  earnest  about  this  matter  [Sunday -closing]. 
Inconsistency  about  a  matter  of  principle  is  the 
index  of  insincerity.  And  now  we  have  a  word  to 
sa)'  to  Bishop  Merrill,  of  the  Methodist  church.  We 
wish  to  ask  the  Bishop  in  regard  to  his  responsi- 
bility^ for  this  wrong.     He  is  reported  by  the  Tribune 


CHRISTIANS  RESPONSIBLE.  Ill 

as  saying  that  a  manifesto  will  be  issued  to  the 
members  of  the  Methodist  church,  'la^dng  it  upon  the 
consciences  of  our  people  to  stay  away  from  an 
exposition  that  defies  the  law  of  God.'  There  was  a 
time  when  we  objected  to  the  coparcenary^  of  respon- 
sibility and  of  pecuniary  profit  between  the  Des- 
plaines  Camp  Company,  whatever  be  its  proper 
name,  and  the  railroads,  for  the  running  of  trains  on 
the  Sabbath.  We  do  not  know  what  the  Bishop's 
relation  to  this  iniquitous  violation  of  the  Sabbath 
may  have  been.  We  only  know  that  the  Bishop  is 
an  authority  in  the  Methodist  church,  and  we  do 
not  see  how  an  arrangement  for  dividing  the  profits 
of  Sunday  traflSc  between  the  railroads  and  the 
Methodist  church  could  have  been  made  without  his 
knowledge  and  without  his  protest,  if  not  without 
his  consent.  This  and  similar  facts  are  what  we 
have  had  to  meet  in  contending  for  closing  the  gates 
on  the  Sabbath.  These  were  the  fatal  weapons 
emplo3^ed  to  our  defeat  by  our  antagonists.  We 
have  kept  them  in  the  back-ground  as  far  as  we 
could,  but  now  that  we  are  defeated,  the  responsi- 
bilit3^  should  go  where  it  belongs — and  we  submit 
that  befo^-e  the  Methodist  bishops  issue  a  general 
boycott,  the  act  should  be  preceded  by  an  Old  Testa- 
ment process  of  purification.  'Let  him  bathe  his 
flesh,  wash  his  clothes  in  water  and  be  unclean  until 
the  even.' " 

An  equally  aggravated  case  was  reported  by  the 
American  Sentinel  in  1893.  Speaking  of  the  manner 
in   which  the  friends   of  Sunday'  denounce  Sunday 


112  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

newspapers,  the  Sentinel  said:  "In  view  of  this  it 
wall  be  interesting  to  learn  that  a  clergyman,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Sabbath  Union,  recently  distrib- 
uted to  his  Sunday  evening  audience  a  program  of 
the  services,  on  the  back  of  which  were  advertise- 
ments of  a  pork-packing  and  jobbing  firm,  a  laundry, 
jewelry  store,  real  estate  firm,  and,  lastly,  an  adver- 
tisement for  more  advertisements.  The  publishers 
of  Sunday  newspapers  do  not  invade  the  place  and 
hour  of  worship  and  thrust  a  copy  of  their  advertis- 
ing sheets  in  the  face  of  each  worshiper.  '  Why 
beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's 
eye,  but  considerest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine 
own  eye.' " 

This  was  so  surprising  that  the  Evangel  and 
Sabbath  Outlook,  of  which  the  writer  was  editor, 
procured  a  specimen  of  the  advertising  sheet  referred 
to.  It  w^as  the  Epworthian,  Vol.  I,  No.  8,  Chicago, 
October,  1891,  published  monthly  by  the  Fowler 
Epworth  League  in  the  interest  of  the  Wabash 
Avenue  M.  E.  church  of  Chicago.  In  addition  to  the 
advertisements  mentioned  by  the  Sentinel  we  found 
one  of  the  Louisville,  New  Albany  and  Chicago  R. 
R., known  as  the  "  Monon  Route,"  representing  that 
road  as  the  best  line  between  Chicago  and  all  points 
South.  Desiring  full  information  for  this  page,  we 
have  procured  ofllicial  information  from  the  General 
Passenger  Agent  of  that  road,  under  date,  Nov.  21, 
1897,  in  these  words:  "This  conipan3^  did  run  Sun- 
day trains  in  1891,  and  for  several  \'ears  previously, 
and  have  done  so  ever  since."    Thus  it  is  shown  that 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  113 

an  Epworth  League  paper,  in  the  interest  of  a  lead- 
ing Methodist  church  in  Chicago,  whose  pastor  was 
a  member  of  the  American  Sabbath  Union,  pubHshed 
the  advertisement  of  a  railroad  known  to  be  running 
Sunday  trains,  and  circulated  that  with  other 
advertisements  through  the  congregation  on  the 
evening  of  the  "  Sabbath."  That  was  breaking  Sun- 
day for  revenue  onl3^ 

Under  the  date  of  August  4,  1893,  the  Church 
Bulletin,  published  in  South  Chicago,  indulged  in  the 
following  bit  of  sarcasm:  " Now  that  the  Fair  will 
probably  be  closed  on  Sunday,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  camp-meeting  managers  will  not  open  their 
gates  on  Sunday,  and  share  with  the  railroads  the 
profits  of  the  Sunday  excursions.  It  is  time  for  relig- 
ious bodies  to  be  pious,  too.  Christians  are  largely 
to  blame  for  the  Sunda}^  opening  effort." 

In  Januarj^  1895,  the  Christian  Advocate,  N.  Y., 
published  the  following  in  its  "Query  "  column  : 

"  Question  4,063.  I  am  a  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church,  and  hold  an  office  in  the  Sun- 
day-school. The  Superintendent  of  the  Sunday- 
school  keeps  his  store  open  on  Sunday  morning,  and 
sells  groceries  and  things  of  that  kind.  What  is  my 
duty?  Should  I  resign  m^^  position  in  the  school 
superintended  by  a  person  w^ho  does  this  and  will 
not  give  it  up,  or  continue  ?  " 

"Answer.  It  is  your  duty  to  continue  in  the 
service  of  the  school,  and  to  make  a  formal  com- 
plaint to  the  pastor,  with  specifications,  against 
the  conduct   of  the    superintendent.      The    respon- 


114  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

sibility  of  proceeding  with  the  discipline  will  then  be 
upon  him." 

"Question  4,064.  What  shall  be  done  with 
church  members  who  habitualh^  patronize  Sunday 
morning  stores  ?  " 

"Answer.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  there  are  many 
such.  A  person  emplo^^ed  in  cit3^  mission  work 
informs  us  that  he  knows  it  to  be  the  case.  Such 
persons  should  be  expostulated  with,  shown  that 
they  are  violating  the  rules  of  the  church  and  setting 
a  bad  example  before  their  children,  and  besought  to 
change.  In  many  instances  such  actions  spring 
from  general  slackness  of  character,  sheer  indolence 
causing  them  to  neglect  laying  in  provisions  for  the 
Sabbath." 

Here  is  further  testimon}-  from  the  Advocate.  In 
June,  1893,  a  correspondent  of  the  Advocate  asked: 
"Is  it  customary  for  our  ministers  in  high  official 
positions  to  use  the  Sunday  trains  in  order  to  meet 
engagements  ?  "  The  closing  words  of  the  Advocate 
in  reply  were  these:  "  It  is^  our  belief  that  the  habits 
of  many  ministers  and  leading  Christians,  camp- 
meeting  projectors  and  managers,  are  among  the 
chief  promoters  of  Sabbath-breaking.  To  see  a 
minister  go  from  a  depot,  carpet-bag  in  hand,  while 
the  church  bells  are  ringing,  or  call  a  hack  at  the 
close  of  the  evening  sermon  and  drive  to  the  depot, 
is  practicall3'  an  opiate  to  the  conscience  of  persons 
inclined  to  disregard  the  day." 

August  15,  1895,  under  head  of  "Washington 
Notes,"  the  Advocate  said:     "  The  camp-meeting  of 


CHRISTIANS  RESPONSIBLE.  115 

the  Salvation  Army,  held  at  Washington  Grove 
upon  the  invitation  of  the  trustees,  closed  Aug.  5. 
Immense  crowds  attended.  It  is,  however,  worthy 
of  note  that  not  only  did  Sunday  trains  run  to  the 
g;rove,  but  upon  the  circulars  of  the  Army  advertis- 
ing the  meeting,  equal  prominence  was  given  to  the 
choruses  of  Salvation  songs  and  to  the  times  at  which 
the  trains  might  be  taken  to  and  from  the  camp,  and 
the  Sunday  trains  were  thereby-  advertised  as  dis- 
tinctly as  those  of  the  week  day.  Little  by  little 
the  religious  sanction  for  the  religious  observance  of 
the  Lord's-day  seems  to  be  yielding.  Our  camp- 
meetings  have  thus  become  in  great  measure  the  oc- 
casion for  Sunda3^  travel  and  traffic,  which  in  no  true 
and  proper  sense  can  be  of  necessity  or  of  mercy." 

In  1896,  the  Advocate  said,  editorially,  "We 
fear  for  the  Sabbath  because  of  worldly  practices 
among  those  w^ho  should  hallow  it,  and  because 
weak  consciences  are  yielding  to  outward  pressure. 
We  are  more  in  danger  here  than  in  open  assault. 
How  may  these  tendencies  be  arrested?  Ph3^sical 
force  will  not  avail.  Arguments  drawn  from  mere 
expediency  or  physical  health  or  present  advantage 
are  insufficient.  The  arm  of  the  civil  law"  will 
utterly  fail.  Truth  lodged  in  the  soul — truth  mov- 
ing the  conscience — will  be  effectual,  and  only  this. 
Christians  who  have  fallen  into  wrong  habits  can 
be  recovered  only  by  divinely'- wrought  convictions 
in  lespect  to  Sabbath-observance.  To  produce  such 
convictions  is  the  important  work  of  the  home,  the 
school  and  the  church." 


116  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

One  more  example  from  the  Advocate  must 
suffice.  Ill  1885  one  of  its  correspondents  asked  the 
following  question  :  "  What  should  be  the  attitude 
of  Christian  ministers  and  laymen  toward  a  camp- 
meeting  held  over  the  Sabbath,  where  trains  would 
not  run  or  stop  if  there  were  no  camp-meeting; 
whose  directors  opposed  the  preachers  and  laymen  ; 
encouraged  Sabbath-traveling  by  receiving  a  reve- 
nue from  the  railroad  company,  and  so  furnish  occa- 
sion for  Sabbath-desecration;  where,  in  fact,  the 
said  preachers  and  directors  asked  the  railroad  com- 
pany to  run  trains  on  Sunday,  when  without  such 
solicitation  they  would  not  do  so  ?  "  The  Advocate 
answered  :  "  If  a  man  believes  the  running  of  trains 
on  the  Sabbath  for  such  purposes  to  be  wrong,  and 
to  contribute  to  the  general  desecration  of  the  Sab- 
bath— so  alarming  a  feature  in  our  American  society, 
and  one  which  in  the  end  is  sure  to  reduce  the  Ameri- 
can to  the  level  of  the  European  Sabbath  (and  when 
the  American  Sabbath  is  reduced  to  the  level  of  the 
European  Sabbath,  Christianity  will  be  about  at  the 
level  of  European  Christianity) — he  cannot  conscien- 
tiously attend  or  have  anything  to  do  with  a  camp- 
meeting  that  pursues  this  course.  The  writer  so  be- 
lieves, and  has  not  preached  at,  or  attended,  such 
a  camp-meeting  in  twenty -four  years.  We  look  with 
amazement  and  sorrow  upon  the  Methodist  who 
will  connive  at  Sabbath-desecration  in  order  to 
make  the  financial  aspect  of  a  camp-meeting  pay. 
We  believe  it  does  more  harm  than  any  conversions 
they  get  at  such  a  camp-meeting  can  do  good." 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  117 

Perhaps  Methodists  are  not  the  most  at  fault 
in  the  matter  of  compHcity  with  railroads  and  Sun- 
da^^-desecration.  Possibly  it  is  the  earnestness  and 
bravery  of  the  Advocate  which  has  revealed  the  facts 
so  plainly  and  so  often.  Be  this  as  it  may,  that 
Christians  are  deeply  in  the  mire  with  the  railroads 
is  beyond  question.  If  it  be  answered  that  all  this 
Sunday-going  is  necessary,  the  fact  still  remains  that 
the  professed  friends  of  Sunday  are  hastening  its 
downfall. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CHRISTIANS  ARE  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  THE  DECAY  OF 

REGARD  FOR  SUNDAY— CONTINUED. 

vSharp  Thrusts  by  Prof.  Wilkinson — vSunday-observance  a  Dying  Super- 
stition; a  Pious  Fiction — It  Must  be  Revived  among  Christians,  or 
its  Doom  Will  Crack — Christian  Statesman  Condemns  Christians 
as  Violators  of  Sunday — Dr.  Blanchard  says  Christians  are  Guilty 
of  all  Forms  of  vSunday-desecration — Mr.  Crafts  Sets  Forth  the 
Indifference  of  Christians  as  to  the  Opening  of  the  World's  Fair — 
Brooklyn  Clergymen  Condemn  Christians  for  Patronizing  Sunday 
Papers — Congregationalists  Silent  Because  Involved  in  Sunday- 
desecration — vSunday-desecration  Worse  than  the  Saloon — Califor- 
nia Christians  Condemned — New  York  Observer  Says  Christians 
Consent  to  Opening  of  Museums  on  Sunday — Mr.  Moody 
Denounces  Chicago  Christians — United  Presbyterians  and  Baptist 
Watchman  Condemn  Sunday  Papers — Pearl  of  Days  Says  Reform 
Will  not  Come  until  Christians  Cease  to  Break  Sunday. 

TN  1885,  Professor  W.  C.  Wilkinson,  then  of  Tarry- 
town,  N.  Y.,  now  of  Chicago  University,  pub- 
lished in  the  Christian  Advocate  (N.  Y.)  a  startling 
article  under  this  head  :  "  Decay  of  Sunday-observ- 
ance among  Christians."  He  avoided  the  funda- 
mental question,  whether  Sunday  is  the  Sabbath,  by 
opening  with  this  sentence:  ''Sunday-observance,  I 
say,  instead  of  Sabbath-observance,  for  I  wish  not 
to  raise  the  Sabbatarian  question,  even  in  the  asso- 
ciation of  a  word."  This  frank  admission  of  the 
noted  Baptist  Professor  is  characteristic  of  most 
writers  on  Sabbath  questions.  They  studiously 
avoid  the  "  Sabbatarian  "  issue,  because  they  know 
that  Sunday  totters  the  moment  that  issue  is  raised. 


CHRISTIANS  RESPONSIBLE.  119 

Mr.  Wilkinson  then  cited  the  case  of  James  G.  Blaine, 
who  had  then  lately  traveled  on  Sunday,  journeying 
from  Chicago  to  New  York.  Applying  the  illustra- 
tion, he  said:  "Sunday,  then,  may  be  taken  still 
to  have,  even  in  the  view  of  a  reporter  attached  to  a 
Sundaj^ -issue-printing-newspaper,  a  certain  'charac- 
ter,' simpl^v  as  Sunday.  I  suppose  it  really  has,  but 
at  the  rate  we  go  on  now  it  will  not  have  much 
longer.  Sunday-observance  is  a  fond  superstition,  a 
relic  of  former  use  and  wont,  that  is  fast  passing 
away  from  among  us.  I  do  not  call  attention  to 
Mr.  Blaine's  disregard  of  Sunday  to  criticise  it.  His 
disregard  of  the  day  seems,  indeed, — for  we  must  be 
carefully  just — not  to  have  been  a  total  disregard. 
Mr.  Blaine  regarded  Sunday  enough  not  to  compete 
with  the  churches  for  audience  at  this  point  or  at 
that  as  his  train  paused  from  its  roaring  rush  along 
the  road.  He  only  disregarded  it  enough  to  travel 
all  da\^  long,  from  the  first  moment  of  Sunday  to 
almost  the  last.  I  say  I  do  not  refer  to  this  conduct 
on  Mr.  Blaine's  part  to  criticise  it.  I  simply  refer  to 
it  in  the  way  of  argument,  by  instance  or  illustra- 
tion. It  is  for  me  a  striking  case  in  point,  recent, 
and  perhaps  not  too  recent.  That  is  all.  It  exhibits, 
for  it  exemplifies,  now  the  decay  of  Sunday-observ- 
ance. It  would  be  grossly  unfair  to  treat  Mr. 
Blaine's  use  of  so-called  sacred  time  as  a  thing  iso- 
lated, exceptional,  singular ;  a  thing  on  his  part  in 
contrast  with  the  general  practice  of  good  and 
accepted  Christians  of  to-day.  This  is  by  no  means 
the  fact  concerning  the  matter.     The  breaking  down 


1-20  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

of  Sunday-observance  runs  along  the  whole  line  of 
current  Christian  behavior." 

After  detailing  several  instances  of  flagrant  dis- 
regard for  Sunday  on  the  part  of  church  officials,  the 
Professor  adds  the  following:  "Now,  in  the  face  of 
facts  like  these — and  from  m^^  own  individual  obser- 
vation, I  could  multiply  them  indefinitely — it  is  per- 
fectly plain  that  Sunday-observance  is  fast  coming 
to  be  practically  a  confessed  pious  fiction — a  fiction, 
therefore,  that  cannot  continue  long  to  impose  on 
anybod3^  A  'fiction'  (of  the  pious  sort)  I  do  not 
scruple  to  call  the  rule  of  Sunday-observation  as 
formally  professed  and  as  actually  broken  by  so 
many  unchallenged  evangelical  Christians,  in  all  our 
American  churches.  It  is  a  '  fiction  '  because  the  very 
men  who  thus  freely  secularize  their  Sundays  them- 
selves will  often  be  found  exclaiming  against  '  Sab- 
bath-breaking '  when  it  is  done  in  certain  forms  by 
others. 

"I  do  not  no\v  criticise  anybody  for  failure  in 
Sunday-observance.  I  simply  point  out  a  fact.  I 
think  it  is  well  that  the  fact  should  be  faced  by 
everybody  concerned.  And  I  believe  that  everybody 
is  concerned.  The  fact  is  full  of  significance.  It 
means  nothing  less  than  that  the  institution  of '  Sun- 
day '  is  fast  going.  The  '  character '  of  the  day  is  with 
uslargeh^a  mere  tradition.  The  tradition  fades  daily. 
It  is  pale  now  to  a  degree. 

"  I  cannot  guess  how  serious  the  regret  really  is, 
and  by  what  proportion  of  average  good  Christians 
shared,  at  this  undeniable  decay  of  Sunda^'-observ- 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  121 

ance.  I  am  quite  inclined  to  think  that  what  regret 
exists  is  mostW  official,  or  else  a  matter  of  mere  tra- 
dition and  convention.  I  judge  so  from  the  easy 
conscience  with  which  ministers,  for  example,  use  the 
railroads  on  Sunday  to  go  to  and  fro  for  preaching 
appointments,  and  from  the  apparently  tmconscious 
proneness  of  any  chance  Christians  you  may  meet, 
for  example,  to  take  the  train  upon  occasion  of  a 
Sunday  morning  from  the  suburbs  to  the  cit^^  for  the 
purpose  of  hearing  a  favorite  voice  sound  out  from 
the  pulpit  the  doctrine  of  the  creeds— preaching,  it 
well  might  happen,  on  the  text,  '  Remember  the  Sab- 
bath-day to  keep  it  holy."  This  freedom  on  the  part 
of  the  flock  is,  of  course,  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
The  shepherd  himself— that  eloquent  preacher— will 
perhaps  preach  the  same  sermon,  on  the  same  text, 
the  evening  of  the  same  day,  to  a  congregation  fort^' 
miles  distant,  reached  necessarily  at  cost  to  him  of 
Sunday  travel. 

"There  is  no  need  to  accumulate  instances.  I 
seriously  propose  a  question  :  As  long  as  the  state 
of  the  case  is  what  we  all  of  us  perfectly  well  know 
it  to  be  respecting  Sunday-observance  among  Chris- 
tians, is  it,  can  it  be,  useful  for  us  to  talk  piously 
against  the  Sunday  newspapers,  Sunday  excursions, 
Sunday  concerts,  Sunday  opening  of  places  of  amuse- 
ments ? 

*  w  *  *  * 

"Sunday-observance  must  be  revived  among 
Christians,  or  the  institution  is  doomed.  And  the 
doom  is  read}'  even  now  presently  to  crack." 


122  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

A  bitter  enem3^  of  Sunday,  and  of  Christians, 
could  hardly  have  framed  a  more  severe  indictment. 
But,  so  far  as  we  know,  and  we  were  then,  as  ever 
since,  reading  a  large  number  of  "  exchanges  "  every 
week,  no  one  has  denied  or  questioned  what  Pro- 
fessor Wilkinson  said  so  graphically. 

In  its  issue  for  June  29, 1895,  the  Christian  States- 
man said  :  "  Sabbath-desecration  in  certain  forms  by 
church-members  is  alarmingly  on  the  increase. 
Even  the  church  service  is  often  a  flagrant  violation 
of  the  Sabbath  law.  It  has  become  the  custom  in  some 
congregations  to  have  what  is  known  as  "  Wheel- 
man's Day,"  the  service  being  devoted  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  bicycle.  Such  a  day  was  recently  observed 
in  certain  churches,  and  the  CAurcAmaw  contained  the 
following  item  with  reference  to  the  services  :  '  Did 
any  of  our  readers  know  that  last  Sunday  w^as 
"  Wheelman's  Da}^  "  in  some  of  the  denominational 
churches  hereabout  ?  It  was ;  and  one  preacher  in 
the  city  of  Brooklyn  (so  the  newspaper  reports  say) 
had  two  bicycles  artistically  disposed  on  either  side 
of  his  pulpit  by  way  of  adornment.  At  another 
church,  in  Jersey  Cit^^,  a  "special  attraction  "  was 
the  presence  of  a  couple  of  hundred  bicyclists  in  riding 
costume.  Sermons,  and  we  suppose  music,  were 
appropriate  to  the  occasion — one  of  the  texts  being 
Isaiah  5:  28,  "  And  their  wheels  like  a  whirlwind." 
It  seems  a  pity  that  some  one  did  not  think  to 
preach  from  the  verses  from  the  Psalter  for  the  da}^ 
(sixteenth  evening,  Psalm  83),  "Make  them  and 
their  princes  like  Oreb  and  Zeb :  yea,  make  all  their 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  123 

princes  like  as  Zeba  and  Salmana;  who  say,  Let  us 
take  to  ourselves  the  houses  of  God  in  possession.  O 
m3^  God,  make  them  like  unto  a  wheel,  and  as  the 
stubble  before  the  wind."  Such  things  are  what  come 
of  "running"  churches  on  "business"  principles.'" 

The  Christian  Endeavorer,  Nov.  26,  1896, 
asserted  that  three  millions  of  people  in  the  United 
States  labor  on  every  Sunday,  as  on  other  days,  and 
that  the  "majority  of  church-members  are  either 
indifterent  to  this  fact  and  to  the  interests  of  Sunday 
Reform,  or  are,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  themselves 
Sabbath-desecrators . ' ' 

In  December  of  the  same  j^ear,  the  Endeavorer 
published  the  following  from  the  pen  of  Charles  A. 
Blanchard,  D.  D.,  President  of  Wheaton  College: 
"I  have  observed  with  great  pleasure  the  efforts 
which  the  Christian  Endeavorer  has  been  making 
for  the  rescue  and  preservation  of  the  Sabbath.  I 
am  satisfied  that  the  only  way  to  secure  the  end 
which  we  all  desire  is  for  Christian  ministers  and 
members  of  churches  to  themselves  hallow  the 
Sabbath.  I  think  it  w411  be  difficult  to  name  a  form 
of  Sabbath-breaking  at  the  present  time  in  which  the 
Christian  church  does  not  participate.  I  am  satis- 
fied that  if  the  church  herself,  in  the  person  of  her 
ministers  and  members,  will  abstain  from  all  forms 
of  Sabbath-breaking,  the  battle  wnll  be  largely  won  ; 
if  she  will  add  to  this  negative  virtue  the  testimony 
against  the  evil,  which  is  both  her  privilege  and 
duty,  God  will  give  victor3^  Someone  has  said  there 
was  never  a  nation  ruined  without  the  consent  of 


124  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

the  clergy.  1  am  satisfied  that  this  is  true.  The 
ministry  must  be  chloroformed  before  the  nation 
can  be  destroyed.  The  success  which  God  gave  to 
the  protest  of  the  church  against  the  Sunday-open- 
ing of  the  World's  Fair  is  familiar  to  all.  He  would 
give  the  same  success  to  her  protest  against  the 
Sunday  newspaper  or  the  Sunday  train  if  she  w^ould 
but  speak  out.  Seven  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand  railwa3^  men,  250,000  postal  employees 
and  1,000,000  toilers  in  other  lines  have  no  Sab- 
bath, because  the  ministry  and  members  of  our 
churches  are  willing  that  some  forms  of  Sabbath- 
breaking  should  continue  to  increase.  It  is  not  possi- 
ble to  half  this  matter.  As  a  nation  we  break  the  Sab- 
bath, as  a  nation  we  must  keep  it  or  be  destroyed. 
Wishing  you  all  success  in  your  efforts  to  do  good, 
and  desiring  that  you  command  me  at  any  time 
when  I  may  be  of  service,  I  am,  sincerely  yours." 

The  indifference  of  Christians  as  to  the  closing 
of  the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday  was  strongly 
assailed  by  W.  F.  Crafts  in  the  Christian  Statesman, 
for  September  11,1891.  He  said  that  when  100,- 
000  petitions  against  opening  ought  to  haA^e  been 
in,  there  were  only  thirteen  hundred  and  fifty.  Iowa 
and  Pennsylvania,  he  said,  had  done  better  than  any 
other  states,  but  these  had  "not  done  fairly  well," 
while  the  other  states  had  done  "  shamefully  little." 
"The  count  by  denominations  and  societies,"  Mr. 
Crafts  declared,  was  equally  discreditable.  Those 
who  were  more  directly  concerned,  "temperance 
people  and   Sabbath  Associations,"  he  described  in 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  125 

these  words  :  "  Worst  of  all,  not  one-half  of  the  Sab- 
bath Associations  of  our  country  have  even  sent  a 
petition  of  their  own.  Even  those  adopted,  in  many 
cases,  have  not  been  sent.  The  only  petitions  of 
national  bodies  that  I  discovered  were  those  of 
the  Presbyterian  and  United  Presbyterian  Assem- 
blies, the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod  and  the 
United  Brethren  Board  of  Bishops.  Others  have 
acted,  but  officers  have  neglected  to  report  the 
action,  and  should  have  their  memories  probed." 

The  Christian  Statesman  did  not  spare  its  rhet- 
oric in  denouncing  the  World's  Fair  officials  for  their 
part  in  Sunday-opening,  but  it  was  compelled  to 
acknowledge  that  Christians,  in  their  organized 
capacity,  as  well  as  in  individual  cases,  set  the 
example  which  the  directors  followed.  In  its  issue 
of  Julys,  1893,  we  find  the  following:  "We  fre- 
quently hear  of  a  minister  going  to  the  pulpit  from 
a  Sunday  train.  Why  not  prelude  the  sermon  with 
theft,  or  adultery,  or  murder,  the  commands  against 
which  are  in  the  same  code  and  much  briefer  than 
the  Sabbath  law  ?  W^e  will  be  glad  to  give  evangeli- 
cal ministers  who  use  the  Sunday  trains,  half  a  col- 
umn each  to  explain,  over  their  own  signatures,  if 
they  dare,  how  they  harmonize  a  ride  on  a  Sunda}^ 
train  with  either  the  old  Testament  law  of  the  Sab- 
bath, or  the  New  Testament  spirit  of  the  Lord's-da3\ 
Most  preachers  who  use  Sunday  trains  explain  that 
they  do  so  only  in  emergencies.  But  do  they  steal 
in  emergencies  ?  No  man  can  do  as  much  good  b^^  a 
sermon  as  he  can  do  harm  by  going  to  it  or  from  it, 


126  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

on  a  Sunday  train.     The  excuses  made  do  not  satisfy 
other  people,  nor  the  offender  himself. 

"At  this  season  of  the  year  there  is  special  dan- 
ger that  churches  that  have  protested  against  a 
large  Sunday  picnic  at  Chicago,  will  advertise  their 
inconsistency  by  holding  small  ones  in  camp-meet- 
ings and  assemblies.  The  mother  Chautauqua  keeps 
the  Sabbath  and  most  other  children, but  atSedalia, 
if  newspaper  reports  are  correct,  one  of  the  Sunday- 
school  assemblies,  on  the  25th  of  June,  opened  its 
gates  with  an  admittance  fee,  and  a  preacher — just 
like  the  World's  Fair,  to  that  extent — and  no  doubt 
in  the  fact  that  Sunday-pleasuring  followed  the  ser- 
mon. We  are  glad  the  pastors  of  Sedalia  set  them- 
selves against  this  attempt  to  sanctify  the  Sunday 
show  business,  and  we  hope  that  if  any  other  assem- 
bly or  camp-meeting  brings  such  a  scandal  on  Chris- 
tianity, its  officers  will  be  called  to  account  in  the 
church  or  in  the  courts.  It  is  one  of  the  strange 
things  that,  while  a  man  who  steals  a  dollar  is 
'churched,'  a  man  who  steals  time  from  God  and 
man  is  not  even  reproved.  A  greater  peril  to  the 
Sabbath  even  than  Sunday-opening  at  Chicago  is 
the  widespread  Sabbath-breaking  of  Christians.  It 
is  this  Achan  that  causes  our  defeats  and  delays  our 
victories." 

CHRISTIANS  SUPPORT  SUNDAY-DESECRATION   BY 
INDIRECTION. 

In  May,  1894,  the  American  Sabbath,  organ  of 
the  American  Sabbath  Union,  sent  out  the  following 
inquiry  to  a  large  number  of  pastors  : 


CHRISTIANS  RESPONSIBLE.  127 

^' Rev.  and  Dear  Sir : — In  view  of  the  fact  that 
the  Sunday  secular  newspaper  imposes  an  unneces- 
sarj'  burden  of  Sunday  labor  upon  thousands 
throughout  our  country,  and  also  seriously  tends 
to  divert  attention  from  the  sacred  duties  of  the 
Lord's-daj^  among  Christians,  what  practical 
method  would  you  suggest  to  counteract  its 
influence  ? 

"A  brief  response  to  the  above  inquiry — b^^ 
return  mail — will  be  used  by  the  American  Sabbath 
Union,  if  3'ou  will  kindly  grant  the  privilege." 

These  are  representative  answers  published  in 
reply : 

Rev.  John  Rippere,  Brooklyn,  said:  "If  the 
church,  in  practice,  were  only  true  on  this  question, 
w^e  might  hope  for  progress  in  circumventing  the 
evil ;  to  accomplish  an^-  reform  in  this  line,  we  must 
begin  at  the  church. 

"If  the  officiary  of  churches,  by  joint  action, 
would  resolve  against  reading  the  Sunda^^  secular 
paper,  and  live  up  to  it,  the  church — so  represented — 
might  follow  its  leaders.  Set  the  church  right  in 
practice,  then  all  her  influence  would  tell  on  the  side 
of  righteousness.  Till  that  is  done,  the  less  we  sa3^ 
the  better." 

Rev.  W.  A.  Layton,  pastor  of  First  M.E.  church, 
Brooklyn,  said:  "Allow  me  to  say  that  the  only 
practical  method  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the 
Sunday  newspaper  is  for  Christian  people  to  refuse 
to  touch  'the  unclean  thing,'  and  to  discountenance 
its  use  by  others  as  far  as  possible.      So  long  as  our 


128  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

people  patronize  the  devil,  his  business  will  pros- 
per." 

Few,  if  any,  of  the  answers  failed  to  emphasize 
the  influence  of  Christians  in  upholding  the  Sunday 
papers. 

In  1896  a  correspondent  of  the  Interior  spoke  of 
Sunday  newspapers  and  Christians  as  follows : 

"  How  is  it  then  that  so  man^^  professing  Chris- 
tians, some  of  them  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  take  the 
Sunday  papers,  read  them  and  have  testimony  to 
give  in  their  favor?  It  is  said  these  papers  have 
come  to  stay,  and  must  be  accepted  as  a  part  of  the 
new  order  of  things  connected  with  the  world's 
progress.  But  does  not  their  permanence  depend  on 
the  support  given  by  those  who  have  been  brought 
up  to  believe  that  they  ought  to  'Remember  the 
Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy?  '  Will  not  some  one 
give  us  a  little  more  Interior  light  on  this  subject? 
Shall  we  accept  the  Sunday  paper  as  a  means  of 
grace,  or  look  upon  it  as  a  device  of  the  adver- 
sary ?  " 

About  the  same  date,  Rev.  Dr.  Foster,  Boston 
correspondent  of  the  Advance,  reported  a  "Grand 
Rally  of  the  Sabbath  Protective  League"  of  Massa- 
chusetts, at  Cambridge,  at  which  "Dean  Hodges  of 
the  Harvard  Theological  School  stated  that  he  was 
a  member  of  an  association  for  publishing  sermons 
in  Sunday  papers."  He  thought  the  Sunday  papers 
ought  to  be  read,  and  said  that  sixty  papers  were 
then  publishing  sermons  in  their  Sunday  editions. 

A  report  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Congrega- 


CHRISTIANS  RESPONSIBLE.  129 

tional  churches  of  Massachusetts,  held  at  Fall  River, 
May  19-21,  1896,  in  the  Congregationalist  for  May 
28,  gave  1  he  following  item  : 

"Of  special  reports,  that  from  the  committee  of 
last  year  appointed  to  express  sympathy  with  Sun- 
day toilers,  aroused  intense  interest.  The  committee 
recounted  special  interviews  with  representatives  of 
5,000  street  car  and  railroad  employees,  who  frankly 
acknowledged  a  fear  of  asking  for  one  day  in  seven, 
although  it  is  their  needed  and  Bible-allotted  respite. 
A  renewed  discussion  of  Sunday  traffic  at  a  subse- 
quent hour  developed  a  nearly  evenly  marked  divis- 
ion over  the  adoption  of  certain  resolutions  com- 
mending the  subject  to  the  prayerful  consideration  of 
the  churches.  After  the  liveliest  debate  of  the  meet- 
ing the  resolutions  were  rejected  by  a  single  vote, 
chiefly  because  they  were  suggestive  of  a  seeming 
inconsistency  on  the  part  of  some  who  of  necessity 
patronize  Sunday  cars." 

Put  into  English,  this  indicates  that  the  Congre- 
gationalists  of  Massachusetts  are  so  mixed  up  with 
Sunday-desecration  that  they  dare  not  advise  each 
other  to  a  "prayerful  consideration"  of  the  ques- 
tion. 

Closely  related  to  the  above  is  the  following  bit 
of  history  from  the  Defender  for  May,  1896.  One  of 
its  correspondents,  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Hubbard,  said : 

*'Our  ministry  and  church  members  require  Sun- 
day trains  and  Sunday  horse-cars;  they  require 
Sunday  postal  service,  domestic  service,  and  other 
work  from   countless   public   and  private  servants. 


130  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

What  right  have  the  Christian  people  of  onr  land  to 
do  this?  On  all  sides  we  hear  them  lamenting  the 
prevalent  Sabbath-desecration  of  the  ungodly,  yet 
Christians  themselves  lead  the  way  in  this  desecra- 
tion b3^  depriving  so  man^'  of  their  servants  of  all 
Sabbath-rest.  Truh'  the  time  has  come  for  judg- 
ment to  begin  at  the  house  of  God.  Away  with 
that  kind  of  Christianity  that  mourns  over  the 
failure  of  worldly  people  to  appreciate  the  blessed- 
ness of  the  Sabbath,  while  it  deliberately  steals  that 
day  of  rest  from  multitudes  w^ho  need  it.  Reform 
in  this  matter,  as  in  all  matters,  must  begin  at 
home.  '  Thou  hypocrite,  oast  out  first  the  beam  out 
of  thine  own  eye,  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to 
cast  out  the  mote  out  of  th\^  brother's  eye.'  Let  the 
church  of  Christ  lead  the  way  in  a  true  and  un- 
selfish obedience  to  the  divine  command." 

In  the  March  number  of  the  same  paper  a  corre- 
spondent from  Rhode  Island  said : 

"I  am  led  to  think  that  the  results  arising  from 
the  misuse  of  the  Sabbath  are  more  threatening  to 
the  best  good  of  mankind  than  the  terrible  results  of 
the  saloon.  For,  when  the  church-going  people,  and 
even  church  members,  participate  in  Sunday  excur- 
sions, it  is  high  time  that  Christian  p'eople,  as  well 
as  loyal  citizens,  should  be  awake  to  the  dangers 
which  threaten  our  social  and  national  well-being, 
and  use  all  proper  methods  in  supprCvSsing  this  evil 
before  it  is  too  late.  We  have  in  this  state  Sunday 
laws,  which,  if  enforced,  would  turn  this  tide  of  evil, 
and  give  us  hope  for  the  future.    What  cnn  be  done?'' 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  131 

In  May,  1897,  the  Christian  Statesman  reported 
the  following: 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  California  State 
''Sabbath"  Association  recently  passed  the  follow- 
ing resolutions  : 

Resolved,  That  we  of  this  Committee,  as  friends  of  the  Sabbath, 
hereby  express  our  regret  that  so  many  pastors  and  churches  lower 
the  standard  of  Sabbath-sanctification  by  various  kinds  of  musical 
entertainments  such  as  Sunday  concerts,  cantatas,  or  choir  exhibitions 
sometimes  called  "  praise  services,"  or  bj' entertaining  lectures  illus- 
trated by  magic  lantern  pictures,  all  which  performances,  however 
appropriate  on  other  days  of  the  week,  are  a  violation  of  the  holy  law 
of  the  Sabbath,  which  requires  all  people  to  spend  the  whole  day  "  in 
the  public  and  private  exercises  of  God's  worship  except  so  much  as  is 
to  be  taken  up  in  the  works  of  necessity  and  mercj'. " 

Resolved,  That  so  long  as  Christian  ministers  and  people  continue 
to  set  such  examples  before  others  we  cannot  expect  non-professors  to 
keep  the  Sabbath  holy  or  obey  any  Sabbath  law,  however  good  i^ 
may  be. 

The  musical  programs  of  man^-  of  our  great  city 
churches  for  last  Sabbath,  in  their  elaborate  Easter 
services,  differed  but  little  from  the  programs  of  the 
hall  concerts  which  are  breaking  down  the  safe- 
guards of  the  Lord's-da3^  How  can  Christian 
churches  enter  a  protest  against  an  evil  of  which 
they  themselves  are  in  substance  also  guilty  ? 

Twelve  years  before  this  the  Statesman,  writing 
of"  The  Weakness  of  the  Sabbath  Cause,"  said  : 

"This  is  found  in  the  weak  convictions  and 
inconsistent  practice  of  the  professed  friends  and 
servants  of  Christ.  A  prominent  merchant  in  this 
city  remarked  the  other  day  :  '  I  have  small  hope  of 
success  in  any  reformatory  efforts  concerning  the 
Sabbath.      Christian    people    themselves    have    no 


132  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

recoo:nized  standard  as  to  the  right  observance  of 
the  day.' 

"  The  scenes  depicted  on  the  previous  page  are, 
in  almost  every  feature,  clearly  within  the  prohibi- 
tion of  the  law.  The  law,  too,  could  be  enforced  if 
Christian  men  cared  to  demand  and  assist  in  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws.  But  there  is  our  fatal 
weakness.  Christian  men  have  tied  their  own  hands 
and  sealed  their  own  lips.  They  dare  not  make  a 
vigorous  and  united  demand  for  the  suppression  of 
certain  forms  of  Sabbath-breaking  for  they  are 
themselves  engaged  habitually  in  other  forms  of  the 
same  sin.  They  are  members  of  Sabbath-breaking 
operations,  or  they  use  the  Sabbath  mail,  or  they 
travel  on  that  day,  or  buy  and  read  and  advertise 
in  the  'Sunday  papers.'  'The  time  is  come  that 
judgment  must  begin  at  the  house  of  God.'  There 
is  a  plain  and  imperative  obligation  resting  on  those 
who  have  a  standard  of  Sabbath-observance  to  lift 
it  up  and  press  wisely  and  steadily  for  its  universal 
adoption." 

When  the  opening  of  museums  in  the  cit3^  of  New 
York  was  being  discussed,  the  Observer,  most  ortho- 
dox of  Presbyterian  papers,  and  a  devoted  friend  of 
Sunday,  said  : 

"If  the  museums  are  finally  opened  on  Sunday, 
it  will  be  owing,  not  so  much  to  the  leadership  of 
the  infidel  element  as  to  the  following  this  element 
has  gained  from  those  who  rank  among  the  relig- 
ious. Secularists  and  other  despisers  of  Christianity 
have  led  the  movement  with  vigor,  hoping  that  they 


CHRISTIANS  RESPONSIBLE.  133 

may  soon  cry  with  M.  Retian,  '  Christianity  is  dead  ; 
it  has  lost  its  Sunday.'  But  they  would  have  been 
comparatively  powerless  if  their  movement  had  not 
obtained  respectability  b3^  the  adhesion  of  those 
vyrhose  general  S3^mpathies  and  associations  are  with 
the  Christian  church.  Let  our  religious  people 
understand  that  if  we  lose  our  Sunday  it  will  be 
because  they  have  lost  it  out  of  their  own  hearts, 
and  have  no  deep  conviction  ot  its  value  or  necessity 
for  the  world  and  the  church.  When  Christians 
travel,  entertain,  amuse  themselves,  and  recreate  in 
ever\^  way  which  shows  that  the  sacredness  of  the 
day  is  forgotten  or  ignored,  there  is  little  reason  to 
expect  the  world  around  to  appreciate  or  reverence 
the  Sabbath." 

In  the  issue  for  Nov.  12,  1885,  the  same  paper 
said : 

"  How  do  Christians  stand  in  view  of  this  diffi- 
culty and  danger?  What  is  their  testimony  and 
example  in  the  midst  of  a  world  which  regards 
nothing  but  what  is  seen  and  temporal?  In  no 
accusing  spirit  we  reply,  that  many  in  our  churches 
are  at  one  with  the  world  in  its  increasing  laxity  as 
to  the  sacredness  of  Sunday.  We  do  not  say  that 
the  mass  of  religious  people  are  as  careless  as  the 
irreligious,  but  that  the  change  in  their  habits  corre- 
sponds with  the  change  in  habits  of  the  world. 
Numbers  of  evangelical  communicants,  members  of 
the  various  Protestant  churches  commonly  classed  as 
orthodox,  do  not  feel  underanyo  I  (ligation  to  keep  the 
Sabbath  holy  by  abstaining  from   ordinary  recrea- 


134  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

tions,  and  finding  pleasure  in  religious  duties,  acts  of 
charity  and  usefulness.  Their  ordinary  work  is 
necessarily  suspended.  But  travel,  social  enjo3'ment, 
innocent  recreation,  secular  newspapers,  and  ordi- 
nary novels  occupy  their  time  and  minds  without  a 
thought  of  loss  to  themselves  or  injury  to  others." 

The  Advance,  April  8,  1896,  quotes  Mr.  Moody 
as  follows  : 

"  Look  how  the  commandment  to  keep  the  Sab- 
bath-day is  toned  down.  But  what  Chicago  needs 
is  to  get  that  old  law  in  force  again.  Young  people 
are  out  on  their  wheels,  older  people  are  reading  the 
Sunday  papers,  the  saloons  are  full,  and  throngs  go 
to  the  woods  for  picnics.  What  is  the  end  of  it  all? 
Young  men  are  ruined;  young  women  are  ruined ; 
the  police  courts  are  full  every  Monday  morning, 
and  mothers  all  over  the  land  are  weeping  over  chil- 
dren who  have  been  ruined.  This  thing  could  all  be 
stopped  if  churches  would  do  their  dut\'." 

In  1888  the  Pittsburg  Synod  of  United  Presby- 
terians adopted  a  stirring  report  upon  the  question 
of  Sabbath-observance.  Touching  the  Sunday  news- 
paper, and  the  responsibility  connected  with  it,  the 
Synod  said,  "  that  the  buying  and  leading  of  Sun- 
day newspapers  by  professing  Christians  is  an 
immorality  and  a  violation  of  the  law  of  God  ;  and 
persistence  in  this  practice  becomes  a  just  cause  for 
church  discipline;  also,  that  all  meml^ers  of  the 
church  be  earnestly  exhorted  not  to  patronize  on 
any  day  a  paper  that  publishes  an  edition  on  the 
Sabbath." 


CHRISTIANS   RESPONSIBLE.  135 

Commenting  upon  the  above,  the  Watchman,  of 
Boston,  said  : 

"  This,  it  seems  to  us,  is  not  onh^  hitting  the  nail 
on  the  head,  but  driving  it  in  a  sure  place.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  professing  Christians  are  largely  to 
blame  for  this  growing  evil,  and  not  only  so,  but 
that  the  weapon  for  killing  it  off  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  church  people  themselves  if  they  will  only  use  it. 
That  the  circulation  and  reading  of  Sunday  news- 
papers tends  to  turn  away  the  thoughts  from  God, 
to  secularize  the  mind  and  destroy  the  sanctity  of 
the  Lord's-day,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Recogniz- 
ing this  fact,  is  it  not  the  duty  of  every  professing 
Christian  not  only  not  to  buy  and  read  the  Sundaj^ 
daily  papers,  but  also  not  to  patronize  in  any  way 
those  papers  which  publish  Sunday  edit  ions?  Let  the 
Christian  people  of  every  community  cease  their 
support  of  such  papers,  both  in  their  subscriptions 
and  advertisements,  and  how  long  would  it  be 
before  the  evil  deplored  would  be  a  thing  of  the 
past?  It  is  in  the  hands  of  professing  Christians 
everywhere  to  decide  whether  or  not  the  Sunday 
newspaper  must  go." 

In  the  summer  of  1889  the  Pe^rl  of  Days,  organ 
of  the  American  Sabbath  Union,  said  : 

"When  the  Christian  church  will  consent  to 
magnifv  the  divine  command, 'Remember  the  Sab- 
bath-day to  keep  it  holy,'  not  seeking  worldly  pleas- 
ure or  gain  on  that  sacred  day;  not  joining  hands 
with  Sabbath-breaking  directors  of  corporations; 
not  secularizing  holy  hours  by  admitting    Sunday 


136  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

newspapers  into  the  home,  then  will  a  new  era 
break  upon  the  nation.  The  spiritual  significance  of 
the  Sabbath,  as  the  holy  sign  between  God  and 
man,  of  all  good,  will  then  become  widelv^  apparent. 
The  Holy  Spirit  will  then  give  to  moral  and  Chris- 
tian reforms,  of  every  kind,  a  new  impulse.  In  a 
word,  the  responsibilit}^  of  right  Sabbath-observ- 
ance, with  all  its  attendant  blessings,  rests  upon  the 
church  of  Jesus  Christ." 


CHAPTER   Vni. 

CHRISTIANS   NEGLECT  THE  DEFENSE   OF  SUNDAY. 

Few  People  Defending  Sunday — Preachers  Remiss  in  Promoting  Regard 
for  Sunday — Christians  in  Wisconsin  Apathetic— Christian  En- 
deavor Societies  Indiffc^rent— California  Societies  Especially  So— 
Delegates  to  SanFrancisco  Convention  Desecrated  Sunday — Dea- 
con Pugh  in  the  Advance — Iowa  Sabbath-Association  Weak  in  De- 
fending Sunday — Christians  in  Massachusetts  Relaxed  in  Senti- 
ment—Book Writers,  Waffle  and  Stacy,  Declare  that  Regard  lor 
Sundaj'  Grows  Less— Regard  for  Sunday  and  for  the  Bible  Grows 
Less,  Hand  in  Hand— Protestants  Must  Give  Up  the  Failing  Sun- 
day and  Return  to  God's  Sabbath. 

TN  the  autumn  or  1896,  the  Christian  Endeavorer, 
Chicago,  said  :  "  There  are  but  seven  men  in  the 
United  States  who  are  giving  their  time  to  the 
"Rescue  of  the  Sabbath."  Of  these  two  or  three 
are  doing  other  things,  so  that  it  may  be  said  that 
not  one-half  dozen  men  in  the  United  States  are 
devoted  to  this  great  and  important  work. 

In  the  Defender  for  October,  1896,  Rev.  W.  F. 
Crafts  complained  of  the  general  lack  of  interest  and 
effort  in  behalf  of  Sunday.  He  hoped  that  Chris  ian 
Endeavor  Societies  would  stir  the  churches  to  over- 
come this  lethargy.  What  he  said  seemed  quite  out 
of  harmon}^  with  the  claims  made  by  others,  that 
there  is  a  great  and  growing  movement  among 
Christians  for  the  salvation  of  the  "imperiled  Sun- 
day."    This  is  what  Mr.  Craft's  wrote: 

"There  is  hardly  a  village  of  five  thousand 
inhabitants  in  all  our  land,  in  which  there  are  not 


138  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

more  men  giving  their  time  to  denominational 
church  work  as  pastors  than  are  giving  their  time 
to  the  defense  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  whole  country 
to-day.  Only  nine  men  and  one  woman  are  receiv- 
ing salaries,  mosth^  insufficient  for  full  support,  as 
officers  of  Sabbath  Associations.  Preachers  are  in 
some  very  insufficient  degree  urging  personal  Sab- 
bath-observance (often  nullifying  their  testimony  by 
their  own  use  of  Sunday  trains),  but  the  writer  does 
not  know  of  a  single  instance  where  churches,  as 
such,  are  actively  engaged,  whether  by  cit3%  or  state 
or  nation,  in  the  defense  of  the  Sabbath,  which  man- 
ifestly cannot  be  saved  by  individual  or  denomina- 
tional effort  alone.  In  no  way  does  the  lack  of 
Christian  solidarity  and  sociality  seem  so  amazing 
as  in  the  neglect  of  this  institution,  which  is  not  only 
the  chief  expression  of  Christian  humanities,  but  also 
the  very  foundation  of  the  church's  life." 

The  reason  for  this  want  of  "solidarity  "  on  the 
part  of  Christians  is  not  far  to  seek.  There  is  not, 
and  there  cannot  be,  an^^  "solidarity"  of  sentiment 
or  faith  concerning  Sunday.  The  masses  believe  in 
it  only  as  a  holiday.  Christians  give  all  sorts  of 
reasons  for  some  sort  of  observance  of  it;  but  they 
are  non- scriptural  and  do  not  appeal  to  conscience, 
and  there  is  no  religious  unity  and  solidarity  with- 
out conscience,  and  conscience  thrives  on  divine 
autho^'ity  only.  Shifting  sand  is  not  the  foundation 
for  "solidaritv." 

The  apatliy  ot  Christians,  including  Christian 
Endeavor  Societies,    was    much    commented    upon 


CHRISTIANS    APATHETIC.  139 

during  1897.  Rev.  J.  B.  Davison,  who  represented 
the  Sunday-observance  forces  in  the  state  of  Wiscon- 
sin, in  Christian  Endeavorer  for  September,  reveals 
the  status  of  the  Sunday  question  in  that  state  by 
the  following :  "  We  in  Wisconsin  have  similar  dese- 
cration of  the  Lord's-day;  but  we  are  hardened  to 
it  and  absolutely  refuse  to  awaken  to  its  danger. 
I  am  often  told,  'This  is  an  important  subject;  but 
others  far  more  important  demand  all  our  time  and 
effort.'  The  general  failure  to  take  hold  of  this  work 
proves  that  this  is  the  general  feeling.  Again,  there  is  a 
general  idea  that  the  chief  thing  to  do  is  to  save  and 
enforce  Sunday  law ;  whereas  the  first  and  most 
important  thing  is  to  love  the  Sabbath  more  our- 
selves, and  to  keep  it  more  holy,  then  to  educate  the 
people  to  a  higher  and  truer  understanding  of  its 
nature  and  worth.  Then  law  enforcement  would  be 
easy.  Law  enforcement  is  important;  but  right 
example,  education  and  agitation  are  far  more 
important." 

A  "  Prize  Banner"  was  offered  to  the  state  in 
which  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  should  do  most 
for  Sunday  reform,  the  report  to  be  made  to  the 
International  Convention  at  San  Francisco,  in  July, 
1897.  One  item  in  Mr.  Davison's  complaint  was 
in  reference  to  this  banner.  It  ran  thus:  "Blanks 
with  urgent  requests  for  prompt  return  were  sent 
to  every  Secretary.  Five  hundred  have  paid  no  heed 
to  the  request.  From  reports  received  and  personal 
knowledge,  a  report  was  sent  on  to  headquarters  of 
over  two  thousand  credits  in   the  contest  for  the 


140  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

banner  for  work  for  Sabbath  defense.  California 
and  perhaps  Pennsylvania  are  ahead  of  us.  If  every 
Society  had  once  reported,  we  should  at  least  come 
ver}^  near  having  the  banner.  If  half  of  the  Societies 
had  appointed  a  Sabbath-observance  Committee, 
and  bought  from  fifty  cents  to  three  dollars'  worth 
of  Lord 's-daj^  leaflets  and  either  alone  or  with  the 
other  Young  People's  Societies  distributed  them  in 
every  home  in  the  community,  we  should  have  won 
the  banner  easily." 

The  Societies  in  California  made  great  eftbrts  to 
secure  the  banner  about  which  Mr.  Davison  com- 
plained. The  Pacific  Christian  EncJeavorer  for  June, 
1897,  said  that  what  had  been  done  by  these  Socie- 
ties was  a  ''Striking  commentar^^  on  what  had  not 
been  done."  To  this  striking  statement  the  Endeav- 
orer  added  the  following  report : 

*' Less  than  50  per  cent  of  our  Societies  have 
enough  interest  in  securing  the  proper  observ- 
ance of  our  Lord's  day  to  appoint  a  committee  for 
that  purpose ! 

"Less  than  13  per  cent  have  had  sermons 
preached  upon  the  subject ! 

"Less  than  6  per  cent  have  enough  interest 
in  this  question  to  discuss  it  in  their  Endeavor  meet- 
ings! 

"And  less  than  2  per  cent  have  had  the  matter 
discussed  in  the  church  prayer-meetings  ! 

"  Los  Angeles  County  deserves  honor  as  having 
won  25  per  cent  of  all  credits  reported." 

Considering    the    peculiar    pressure    that    was 


CHRISTIANS    APATHETIC.  141 

brought  to  bear  on  the  societies  in  California,  this 
was  apath^v,  indeed.  But  there  is  no  cause  for 
wonder  in  all  this.  The  young  people  have  been 
taught  to  hold  Sunday  lightly,  b3^  the  example  of 
their  elders  who  have  done  so  much  to  bring  it  into 
decay.  Even  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  could  not  be 
expected  to  work  miracles,  nor  restore  life  to  the 
moribund  day. 

DESECRATION   BY   CHRISTIAN.  ENDEAVORERS. 

The  Christian  Endeavorer,  of  Chicago,  for 
August,  1897,  had  an  editorial  on  Sunday-desecra- 
tion by  Christian  Endeavorers  while  on  their  jour- 
ney to  the  San  Francisco  Convention.  The  core  of 
the  editorial  was  this:  "At  Denver  this  question 
was  raised :  *  Shall  we  take  a  side  trip,  which  will 
necessitate  Sunday  traveling,  or  shall  we  forfeit  the 
scenery,  deny  ourselves  the  pleasure  of  the  trip,  and 
thus  avoid  Sunday  travel?  '  The  party  divided,  one 
portion  saying,  '  It  means  only  a  few  hours  of  Sun- 
day' travel,'  and  the  other  saying,  '  To  remember  the 
Sabbath-day  means  to  keep  the  whole  day  ho\y.- 
We  shall  not  ask  which  was  right.  Our  sole  pur- 
pose in  bringing  this  matter  before  our  readers  is  to 
emphasize  the  fact  that  was  brought  out  by  one  of 
the  speakers  at  the  Convention,  viz.:  '  The  laboring 
man  will  never  have  a  Sabbath  until  the  church 
stops  its  sinning  against  the  Sabbath.'  The  church 
is  wholly  to  blame  for  the  increasing  disregard  for 
the  Lord's-day.  Whole  delegations  of  Endeavorers 
traveled  the  greater  part  of  Sunday,  July  4,  on  their 
wav  to  the  San  Francisco  Convenlion." 


142  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

When  the  special  representatives  of  Sunday-ob- 
servance do  not  deny  themselves  the  pleasure  of  a 
side  trip  for  sake  of  some  beautiful  scenery,  even 
when  going  to  a  Convention,  w^hich  sought  to  make 
a  great  impression  on  the  world  in  general  and  Cali- 
fornia in  particular,  in  favor  of  Sunday,  they  are  not 
different  from  the  Sunday  bicyclists,  whom  they 
hasten  to  condemn.  This  episode  adds  to  the  proof 
that  "Sabbath  Reform,"  as  represented  by  these 
societies,  is  more  a  name  than  a  fact.  Note  the  fact 
that  these  charges  are  brought  against  Christian 
Endeavorers  by  their  own  journals. 

According  to  "  Deacon  Pugh,"  in  the  Advance  of 
Aug.  5,  1885,  the  Christian  Endeavor  Convention, 
held  at  Boston  that  year,  was  quite  unable  to  fulfill 
its  promise  concerning  keeping  Sunday  sacredly. 
This  is  the  version  given  by  the  Advance: 

"  In  spite  of  the  plans  for  Sabbath-observance  at 
Boston  during  the  recent  Convention,  it  is  reported 
that  the  Endeavorers  kept  the  railroad  men  busy  all 
the  preceding  Sunday.  If  this  be  true,  they  pr.  bably 
thought  the  occasion  furnished  an  'emergency' 
which  justified  their  course.  Surely  those  who, 
before  the  World's  Fair,  shouted, 

"  We  won't  go 
To  the  vSabbath-breaking  show, '" 

were  but  giving  voice  to   the  law-abiding  spirit  of 
Endeavor. 

"But  what  about  these  'emergencies'?  How 
can  we  have  a  Sunda}^  train  for  emergencies,  except 
b^^  having  one  ail  the  time?     If,  then,  we  accept  the 


CHRISTIANS    APATHETIC.  143 

emergency,  we  accept  and  sanction  the  regular  train 
that  accommodates  our  emergency,  and  we  have 
yielded  the  whole  point.    Isn't  that  good  logic?  " 

In  a  similar  strain  this  "  Deacon  Pugh,"  in  the 
Advance  for  April  8,  1897,  sharpened  his  pen  for 
such  Christians  as  patronize  Sunday  trains.  This 
is  the  way  the  Deacon  put  the  case,  under  the  head, 
"  Lost,  A  Conscience  "  : 

"  Bv  the  way,  one  who  knows,  affirms  that  it  is 
becoming  quite  the  thing  for  a  church  committee 
seeking  a  pastor,  to  take  the  train  Sunday  morning 
to  a  neighboring  town  or  cit^'  for  the  purpose  of  at- 
tending the  service  of  an  unconscious  candidate. 
Such  a  scheme  strikes  one  as  business  like,  but  what 
has  become  of  the  conscience  of  the  Christian  church 
which  authorizes  it? 

"  Lost !  On  Sunda3'  morning,  by  the  Pulpit  Sup- 
pl\'  Committee,  on  the  wa^^  to  the  depot  enroute  to 
Villaville  to  hear  the  Rev.  Dr.  Power,  the  Calvary 
church  conscience!  The  finder  will  be  liberally 
rewarded  on  returning  the  same  to  the  owner." 

Such  telling  satire  would  provoke  a  smile,  if  one 
could  cover  the  precipice  toward  which  those  drift 
who  have  thus  lost  conscience  in  the  matter  of  all 
Sabbath-observance.  We  sa^^  all  Sabbath-observ- 
ance, for  the  evil  begins  in  the  disregard  for  God's 
Law  and  his  Sabbath,  into  which  Christians  fell 
long  ago,  led  by  Pagan  philosophy,  rather  than 
Christ-like  obedience. 

In  1896  especial  efforts  were  made  to  awaken  a 
new  interest  in  Sundav  reform  in  the  state  of  Iowa. 


144  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

The  reports  given  b^^  the  Iowa  State  Register,  of  the 
ConA'ention  at  Des  Moines,  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year,  fully  sustain  the  following  by  Rev.  A.  L.  Frisbie, 
D.  D.,  which  appeared  in  the  Advance  soon  after  the 
Convention  : 

"The  month  opened  w\t\\  what  was  meant  to 
be  a  State  Convention  of  the  Iowa  Sabbath  Associa- 
tion. That  societ\^  has  been  at  a  ver^^  low  stage  of 
life,  but  a  few  months  ago  arose  and  shook  itself 
and  called  Rev.  C.  F.  Williams,  late  chaplain  of  the 
penitentiary  at  Fort  Madison  for  nine  \'ears,  to  be 
its  secretary.  The  choice  was  a  good  one  and  he 
took  great  pains  to  send  the  call  to  the  '  Sabbath 
Rescue  Convention'  in  Des  Moines  well  through  the 
stace.  The  response  was  very  slight.  If  the  interest 
of  the  Iowa  people  in  the  rescuing  of  the  Sabbath 
be  measured  by  the  size  of  the  Convention,  there  is 
small  hope  for  the  rescue  of  the  day.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  a  good  many  are  doubtful  about  the 
promise  of  the  work  attempted  by  the  Association. 
It  does  not  matter  whether  or  not  they  are  justified 
in  this  skepticism,  so  that  they  are  under  the  influ- 
ence of  it,  they  will  be  lukewarm  toward  the  specific 
endeavors  of  the  society.  And  some  are  in  an  apa- 
thetic state,  feeling  that  the  Sabbath,  as  an  institu- 
tion, is  so  deeply  grounded  in  divine  law  and  human 
necessity,  that  there  can  be  no  serious  danger  of  its 
practical  loss.  Then  there  is  some  degree  of  uncer- 
tainty of  aim  in  effort  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Sabbath.  Some  find  it  hard  to  surrender  the  notion 
that  the  state  should  protect  it  as  a  religious  day. 


CHRISTIANS    APATHETIC.  14-5 

More,  however,  fall  in  with  the  idea  of  a  'civil  rest 
day,'  protected  as  such  b\^  law  and  guaranteed  to 
the  people.  The  Secular  Union  men  who  are  sayino", 
'  Away  with  the  church  ! '  '  Away  with  Sunday- ! '  are 
posing  in  bad  form  as  the  friends  of  the  laboring 
man.  This  program  means  seven  times  fifty-two 
working  days  in  the  A^ear.  They  would  take  from 
the  w^orking  man  his  chance  of  a  seventh  of  all  the 
days,  sacredly  and  indefeasibh^  his  own — the  peo- 
ple's day,  the  rest  for  the  weary,  the  delight  of  the 
worshiper,  the  blessing  of  all.  The  laws  of  most  of 
the  states — susceptible  of  much  improvement — do 
protect  the  day  as  one  of  rest.  The  church  of  Christ, 
taking  advantage  of  this  fact,  must  save  the  da3' 
for  man,  in  the  best  uses  of  it,  and  save  it  for  God  by 
a  wise  and  faithful  ministration  of  the  gospel  on 
the  day  when  men  may  rest  and  hear.  The  church 
is,  as  yet,  but  a  novice  in  the  winning  of  men.  When 
our  churches  shall  unite  to  make  the  day  '  a  delight, 
the  holy  of  the  Lord,  honorable,'  we  shall  have  a 
Lord's-day  which  will  be  significant.  Otherwise, 
never." 

W.  G.  Tuttle,  D.  D.,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  was 
reported  by  the  Defender  for  October,  1897,  as  say- 
ing: 

*'  The  main  danger  of  the  hour  is  a  relaxed  senti- 
ment among  Christians  respecting  the  Lord's-day. 
So  long  as  I  hey,  in  their  personal  conduct,  make  no 
protest  against  Sunday  travel  and  Sunday  pleasure, 
so  long  will  there  be  no  hope  of  bettei  things.  With 
an  unselfish,  self-sacrificing  spirit  in    our   churches, 


146  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

which  will  impel  Christians  to  avoid  all  things 
which  compromise  the  Lord's-da3^  which  will  make 
them  considerate  of  th'^se  who  must  toil  on  Sunday, 
and  will  lead  them  to  give  up  all  things  which  secu- 
larize the  day,  a  new  era  of  hope  will  dawn  on 
Christ's  kingdom." 

BOOK  WRITERS   ASSERT  THE   FAILURE   OF  SUNDAY. 

In  1885  the  American  Sunday-School  Union 
published  a  "prize  essay"  by  Rev.  A.  E.  Waffle, 
entitled, '' The  Lord's-da\^"  Discussing  the  "  State 
of  the  Question,"  Mr.  Waffle  averred  that  the  issues 
involved  in  the  Sabbath  question  are  of  paramount 
importance,  and  that  even  then  the  decline  of  regard 
for  Sunday  had  become  rapid  and  alarming.  He 
said,  also,  that  the  question  as  a  whole  was  by  no 
means  settled.  Here  are  some  rej^resentative 
sentences : 

"To  say  the  least,  the  question  is  now  an  open 
one  whether  we  shall  have  a  Sabbath,  or  whether 
Sunday  shall  be  a  mere  holiday,  when  it  is  not 
devoted,  like  the  other  days  of  the  week,  to  secular 
toil.  .  .  .  It  is  certain  that  the  relative  amount 
of  work  done  on  Sunday  in  this  countr^^  is  con- 
stantly increasing,  while  the  disregard  for  the  Sab- 
bath by  pleasure-seekers  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
features  of  our  time." 

During  the  thirteen  years  since  Mr.  Waffle  wrote 
thus,  the  disregard  for  Sunday  has  been  emphasized 
and  increased  many  times.  Of  the  state  of  public 
opinion  when  he  wrote,  Mr.  Waffle  said  : 


CHRISTIANS    APATHETIC.  147 

'^  As  we  have  opened  our  ears  to  the  multitudin- 
ous voices  that  come  to  us  from  the  different  classes  of 
our  people,  it  has  seemed  that  the  protests  against  the 
destruction  of  the  Sabbath  grow  feebler  and  feebler. 
It  may  be  that  the  protest  of  the  church  is  becoming 
more  vigorous  as  the  danger  increases;  but  the  pro- 
test does  not  have  its  proper  effect,  because  the 
trumpet  which  raises  the  note  of  warning  gives  an 
'uncertain  sound.'  To  sa^"  nothing  of  the  inconsist- 
ent practices  of  those  who  profess  to  have  a  high 
regard  for  the  sacredness  of  the  Lord's-day,  there  is 
such  a  variety  of  opinions  concerning  the  reasons 
for  observing  it  that  men  are  in  doubt  as  to  whether 
it  rests  on  any  solid  foundation.  When  Christian 
teachers  disagree  on  an^'-  point  of  doctrine,  it  is 
natural  for  the  indifferent  to  say  that  no  plain  reve- 
lation has  been  made  on  the  subject  of  dispute,  and 
that,  therefore,  it  has  small  claim  to  their  atten- 
tion." 

With  much  more  of  the  same  character  did  Mr. 
Waffle  testify  to  the  fact  that  Christians  have  under- 
mined Sunda}^  and  demonstrate  that  there  is  neiiher 
Biblical  reason  nor  common  ground  for  its  observ- 
ance. In  so  far  as  his  words  were  prophetic  of 
greater  and  more  rapid  decline  they  have  been  ful- 
filled immeasurably. 

In  1885  Whittet  and  Shepperson,  Richmond, 
Va.,  published  "Day  of  Rest,"  etc.,  by  Rev.  James 
Stac3%  D.  D.  It  was  strongly  put,  from  the  Presby- 
terian standpoint.  On  page  292  and  following,  Mr. 
Stacy  wrote  on   this  theme:     "Who  is  responsible 


148  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

for    the    Sabbath-desecration    in    the    land?"       He 
said: 

"That  a  fearful  amount  of  Sabbath-desecration 
exists  in  our  land  none  can  deny.  And  that  a  disre- 
gard for  the  sabbatic  law  is  gradually  increasing 
year  by  3^ear  is  also  apparent,  even  to  the  most  care- 
less observer.  There  must  be  a  responsibility  for 
the  present  state  of  things  resting  somewhere. 
Who,  then,  is  to  blame?  And  whom  does  the  Lord 
hold  responsible  for  the  enforcement  of  his  law? 
.  .  .  But  there  is  a  still  greater  obligation  on  the 
church.  .  .  .  She  should  teach  with  her  example 
as  well  as  her  precepts,  in  requiring  her  members, 
and  especially  her  ministers,  to  honor  this  day  of  the 
Lord.  For  what  can  be  expected  of  the  outside 
world,  when  the  church  herself  fails  to  respect  this 
ordinance  of  her  King?  And  we  do  not  hesitate  to 
charge  it  upon  the  Christian  church,  and  that,  too, 
in  all  of  her  branches,  that  it  is  in  a  great  measure 
owing  to  her  laxity  of  doctrine  and  discipline  that 
this  day  of  the  Lord  is  no  more  honored.  .  .  . 
We  repeat  it,  that  there  is  a  fearful  responsibility 
resting  upon  the  church,  and  especially  upon  her 
ministers,  in  this  matter.  It  is  because  of  the 
encouragement  and  support  that  the  outside  world 
receive  from  the  people  of  God  that  renders  the  evil 
so  menacing.  It  is  not  simph'  the  apathy,  but  this 
open  disregard,  on  the  part  of  the  professed  friends 
of  the  institution  that  gives  such  strength  to  the 
opposition.  If  the  Christian  people  of  this  land 
were  only  a  unit  in  their  testimony  and  practice,  the 


CHRISTIANS    APATHETIC.  149 

question  of  Sabbath-observance  would  be  soon  and 
finally  settled." 

Similar  testimony  is  found  in  all  the  books  of 
value,  touching  the  Sunday  question,  which  have 
been  published  within  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty 
years.  Book  writers  and  editors  agree  as  to  the 
general  facts  and  the  inevitable  results.  We  sum- 
marize the  facts :  The  Sabbath  question  is  a  vital 
one  in  its  relation  to  Christianity.  It  is  an  unset- 
tled question.  Regard  for  Sunday  is  failing,  widely 
and  rapidly.  Christians  are  largely,  if  not  chiefly, 
responsible  for  the  decline  and  loss  of  Sunda3\  They 
can  find  no  common  ground  for  its  defense.  They 
are  dull  through  apathy  and  indifference.  They  are 
inconsistent  through  lack  of  conscience.  Their 
efforts  to  check  deca\^  are  weak,  sporadic,  and  inef- 
fectual.    Worse  evils  impend. 

In  the  quotations  which  have  been  given  in  pre- 
vious chapters,  and  are  given  here,  there  is  not  one 
from  an  enem^^  of  Sunday.  There  are  but  one  or 
two  from  secular  papers.  We  have  placed  before 
the  reader  facts  and  conclusions  as  the}'  have  been 
expressed  by  the  best  and  most  earnest  friends  of 
Sunday.  He  who  will  not  stop  here  to  think  and 
pra}'  is  too  superficial  and  indifferent  to  be  counted 
a  devout  follower  of  Christ,  Lord  of  the  Sabbath. 

These  charges,  made  by  Christians  against  their 
fellows,  might  be  extended  through  man}^  more 
pages.  But  the  case  does  not  demand  this.  The 
evidence  adduced  makes  one  conclusion  certain,  v/>., 
reo:ard  for  Sundav  as   a  sacred  dav  has   decaved  in 


150  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

the  faith  of  Christians  until  their  opinions  and  prac- 
tices are  a  prominent,  if  not  the  most  prominent, 
influence  in  continuing  this  deca}^,  and  in  fostering 
both  non-rehgious  and  irrehgious  hohdayism  on 
Sunday.  The  best  interests  of  Christianity  are  thus 
imperiled.  Public  worship  declines.  Regard  for  the 
Bible  lessens.  Indifferentism  as  to  religion  and 
religious  duties  prevails,  more  and  more.  The  friends 
of  Sunday  are  powerless  in  the  presence  of  the  evils 
they  have  done  so  much  to  create.  In  this  drift 
away  from  weekly  Sabbathism  there  is  no  tendency 
toward  even  a  theoretical,  much  less  an  actual,  Pan- 
Sabbathism.  Nothing  can  check  the  tide  but  a 
reform  that  v^4 11  be  revolutionary.  This  must  carry 
the  Christian  world  back  to  the  point  where  it  first 
left  the  road  which  Christ  marked.  The  Sabbath  of 
God  and  of  his  Son,  its  Lord,  must  be  restored  ;  not 
as  the  old  institution  of  Phariseeism,  but  as  the 
Christianized  Sabbath  of  Christ.  Protestants,  of  all 
others,  stand  face  to  face  with  this  issue.  Delay  will 
deepen  the  morass  of  Sabbathlessness  through  which 
the  return  must  be  made.  God  waits  to  hear  the 
answer  Protestants  will  make. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ROMAN   CATHOLICISM   AND   SUNDAY. 

Western  Christianity  and  Roman  Catholicism  Largely  Identical— Sun- 
day Legislation  Essentially  Roman  Catholic— Church  or  Bible, 
Which— Catholics  on  the  Sabbath  Question,  Senex,  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons and  Others — Catholic  Minor  Quoted — Protestants  Losing 
Ground — Weekly  ^F//«^^j- Quoted— Possible  Overestimate  by  Cath- 
olic ^Wrror— Protestants  Returning  to  the  Catholic  Position — 
Protestants  Asking  Kelp  P'rom  Catholics— Catholics  Well  Pleased 
With  the  Situation. 

T>EFORE  inquiring  more  closely  as  to  the  causes 
which  have  made  the  decline  of  regard  for  Sun- 
day inevitable,  it  is  well  to  note  that  Roman  Cathol- 
icism has  been — and  is  yet  to  be — an  important 
factor  in  the  Sunday  question.  This  is  true,  not 
only  because  the  Roman  CathoHc  church  embodies 
much  the  greater  part  of  the  history  of  Western 
Christianity  within  itself,  but  because  the  same 
Pa^an  influences,  philosophical  and  political,  Greek 
and  Roman,  which  brought  the  observance  of  Sun- 
day, Easter,  Good  Friday,  baptismal  regeneration, 
the  use  of  lights  in  worship,  prayers  for  the  dead, 
sprinkling  and  pouring  in  addition  to  immersion, 
the  worship  of  saints,  and  a  long  list  of  other  and 
similar  additions  to  New  Testament  Christianity, 
were  the  influences  which  culminated  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  Roman  Catholicism  and  the  Papacy. 
No  historian  thinks  of  denying  that  Sunday  legisla- 
tion began  in  321  A.  D.,  under  Constantine;  that  his 
first    law    was    Pagan,    purely,    in    form,  fact   and 


152  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

essence;  that  it  represented  the  union  of  Church  and 
State,  after  the  Pagan  model.  This  legislation  and 
the  fixing  of  "Easter"  by  civil  law,  on  Sunday, 
rather  than  on  the  14th  of  the  month,  according  to 
the  Paschal  law  of  the  Jews,  completed  the  civil  and 
political  enthronement  of  Sunday  in  place  of  the 
Sabbath. 

Roman  Catholics  claim  that  the  church  has 
power  to  make  any  and  all  Ecclesiastical  laws,  and 
that  since  the  church  "created  the  Bible,"  it  alone 
can  interpret  it.  The  Catholic  church  was  the  first 
to  teach  the  now  popular  doctrine  that  the  Sabbath 
and  the  Ten  Commandments  are  Jewish  only,  and 
not  binding  on  Christians.  Every  man  who  teaches 
that  doctrine  is  a  Catholic  thus  far,  whether  he  be 
called  "Roman"  Catholic  or  "Baptist"  Catholic, 
whether  he  taught  in  the  third  century,  or  teaches 
now  in  the  nineteenth.  The  name  does  not  change 
the  fact  that  the  doctrine  thus  taught,  the  no- 
la  wism,  or,  as  Paul  puts  it,  the  lawlessness  which 
has  borne  the  fruitage  of  Continental  Sundayism 
with  its  Spanish  bull-fights  in  Madrid,  and  its 
ConcA^  Island  excursions  in  New  York,  is  an  anti- 
Biblical  product  of  Pagan  philosophy. 

The  developments  connected  with  the  Sabbath 
question  and  the  plans  for  advancing  Roman  Cath- 
olic interests  in  the  United  States,  being  carefully 
noted  by  observant  Catholic  leaders,  have  brought 
out  some  important  statements  from  Catholics, 
which  are  being  widely  disseminated.  The^^  are 
based  on  the  claim  that,  in  keeping  Sunday,  Protest- 


ROMAN   CATHOLICS   AND   SUNDAY.  153 

ants  acknowledge  the  authority-  of  the  Catholic 
church.  In  1890,  a  Booklet  was  published  in  Balti- 
more, Md.,  with  the  sanction  of  the  highest  repre- 
sentative of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  in  the 
United  States,  entitled:  "The  Letters  of  Senex  on 
True  and  False  Faith,  and  on  the  Sabbath  Question, 
Scripturally  Considered."  Cardinal  Gibbons'  book, 
"Our  Christian  Heritage,"  p.  495-505  (published  in 
1889),  treats  the  Sabbath  question  with  great 
ability-  and  shrewdness,  and  in  a  manner  calculated 
to  draw  Protestant  defenders  of  Sunday  into  the 
Roman  Catholic  net,  not  only  disarmed,  but  flat- 
tered that  the  Catholics  are  coming  to  the  Protest- 
ant position.  In  the  "Sunday-Rest  Congress,"  at 
Chicago,  in  1893,  a  paper  by  Cardinal  Gibbons,  and 
an  address  by  Archbishop  Ireland,  tended  strongly 
in  the  same  direction.  At  the  same  time,  and  as  a 
significant  part  of  their  far-reaching  program,  there 
appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  Catholic  Mirror, 
usually  regarded  as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Cardinal, 
a  series  of  articles  upon  the  Sabbath  question,  run- 
ning from  September  9  to  30,  1893.  The  opening 
article  of  this  series  reviewed  the  situation  briefly, 
the  claims  of  the  Israelites,  and  of  Sabbath-keeping 
Christians,  and  the  A^arious  attitudes  which  Protest- 
ants took  concerning  the  World's  Fair.  The  iVf/rror 
states  its  purpose  as  follow^s  : 

"Our  purpose  in  throwing  off  this  article  is  to 
shed  such  light  on  this  all-important  question  (for 
were  the  Sabbath  question  to  be  removed  from  the 
Protestant  pulpit   the  sects   would  feel  lost,  and  the 


154  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

preachers  be  deprived  of  their  '  Cheshire  cheese') 
that  our  readers  may  be  able  to  comprehend,  the 
question  in  all  its  hearings,  and  thus  reach  a  clear 
conviction. 

****** 

*' Neither  is  the  discussion  of  this  paramount 
subject  above  the  capacity  of  ordinary  minds,  nor 
does  it  involve  extraordinary  study. 

"It  resolves  itself  into  a  few  plain  questions, 
easy  of  solution. 

"1st.  Which  day  of  the  week  does  the  Bible 
enjoin  to  be  kept  holy  ? 

"2d.  Has  the  New  Testament  modified  by  pre- 
cept or  practice  the  ori^^inal  command  ? 

"3d.  Have  Protestants,  since  the  sixteenth 
century,  obeyed  the  command  of  God  b}^  keeping 
'  holy  '  the  day  enjoined  by  their  infallible  guide  and 
teacher,  the  Bible;  if  not,  why  not?" 

Speaking  of  ''The  Letters  of  Senex''  named 
above,  the  A/irror  said  : 

"The  pages  of  this  brochure  unfold  to  the  read- 
ers one  of  the  most  glaringly  conceivalile  contradic- 
tions existing  between  the  practice  and  theory  of 
the  Protestant  world,  and  unsusceptible  of  any 
rational  solution  on  the  theory  claiming  the  Bible 
alone  as  the  teacher,  which  unequivocally  and  most 
positively  commands  SaturdaA^  to  be  kept  'holy,' 
whilst  their  practice  proves  that  they  utterly  ignore 
the  unequivocal  requirements  of  their  teacher,  the 
Bible,  and  occupying  Catholic  ground  for  three  cen- 
turies and  a  half,  b3^  theabandonment  of  their  theory 


ROMAN   CATHOLICS   AND   SUNDAY.  155 

they  stand  before  the  world  to-day  the  representa- 
tives of  a  S3^steiTi,  the  most  indefensible,  self-contra- 
dictory, and  suicidal  that  can  be  imagined." 

Again,  speaking  of  the  Protestants  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  the  Mirror  said  : 

"Chief  amongst  their  articles  of  belief  was,  and 
is  to-day,  the  permanent  necessity  of  keeping  the 
Sabbath  holy.  In  fact,  it  has  been  for  the  past  300 
years  the  only  article  of  the  Christian  belief  in  which 
there  has  been  a  plenar_v  concensus  of  Biblical  repre- 
sentatives. The  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  constitutes 
the  sum  and  substance  of  the  Biblical  theory.  The 
pulpits  resound  weekly  with  incessant  tirades  against 
the  lax  manner  of  keeping  the  Sabbath  in  Catholic 
countries  as  contrasted  with  the  proper,  Chris- 
tian, self-satisfied  mode  of  keeping  the  day  in  Bibli- 
cal countries. 

****** 

"This  most  glaring  contradiction  involving  a 
deliberate  sacreligious  rejection  of  a  most  positive 
precept  is  presented  to  us  to-day  in  the  action  of  the 
Biblical  Christian  world.  The  Bible  and  the  Sab- 
bath constitute  the  watchword  of  Protestantism; 
but  we  have  demonstrated  that  it  is  the  Bible  versus 
their  Sabbath.  We  have  shown  that  no  greater  con- 
tradiction ever  existed  than  their  theory  and  prac- 
tice. We  have  proved  that  neither  their  Biblical 
ancestors  nor  themselves  have  ever  kept  one  Sab- 
bath-day in  their  lives.  The  Israelites  and  Seventh- 
day  Adventists  [and  Seventh-day  Baptists]  are  wit- 
nesses of  their  weeklv  desecration  of  the  dav  named 


156  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

b^^  God  SO  repeatedly,  and  whilst  the^'  have  ignored 
and  condemned  their  teacher,  the  Bible,  they  have 
adopted  a  day  kept  by  the  Catholic  church.  What 
Protestant  can,  after  perusing  these  articles,  v^ith  a 
clear  conscience,  continue  to  disobey  the  command 
of  God,  enjoining  Saturday  to  be  kept,  which  com- 
mand his  teacher,  the  Bible,  from  Genesis  to  Revela- 
tion, records  as  the  will  of  God  ?  " 

However  much  Protestants  may  shrink  from 
these  sharp  words,  or  however  much  they  ma^^  deny 
to  the  Catholics  the  power  they  claim,  they  cannot 
escape  the  fact  that  the  Bible  commands  them  to  do 
what  they  do  not  do,  in  the  matter  of  the  Sabbath. 
The  only  excuse  they  have  placed  on  record,  and  the 
only  answer  they  can  make,  is  to  throw  away  the 
Fourth  Commandment  as  "Jewish,"  or  else  tr^^  to 
make  it  appear  that  God  did  not  mean  what  he  said 
when  he  gave  it.  No  discussion  of  the  claims  of 
Roman  Catholics  can  remove  the  central  point  in 
the  issue.  Protestants  profess  one  thing  and  do 
directh^  the  opposite. 

pr()Tp:stantism  losing  ground. 

While  the  Sabbath  question  is,  doctrinally  and 
practically,  the  one  in  which  the  issue  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants  is  most  strongly  marked, 
there  are  several  other  vital  ones  which  Protestants 
yield  in  accepting  Sunday.  Sunday  rests  upon  the 
basis  of  custom,  church  authority,  and  the  civil  law, 
and  it  is  the  supremacy  of  these  over  the  Bible  that 
forms  the  core  of  the  Catholic  position.  That  Pro- 
testantism  should   lose  ground  in  the  struggle  with 


ROMAN    CATHOLICS    AND    SUNDAY.  157 

Catholicism  is  a  foregone  conclusion,  when  we  con- 
sider how  Protestants  still  clingto  the  Catholic  posi- 
tion, although  repudiating  it  in  theory. 

On  the  3d  of  October,  1895,  the  New  York 
Weekly  Witness  republished  an  article  b^^  Rev.  R. 
Sailliens,  of  Paris,  concerning  the  "  Revival  of  Roman 
Catholicism  in  Europe."  Referring  to  it  editorially, 
the  Witness  said  : 

'*This  writer  [Sailliens]  goes  to  the  root  of  the 
matter  when  he  points  out  that  the  decline  of  faith 
in  the  Bible  among  Protestants  is  the  great  source 
of  danger.  Martin  Luther  could  stand  alone 
against  the  whole  power  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
gain  a  great  victor\^  over  it,  at  a  time  when  the 
supremacy  of  Rome  was  universally  acknowledged 
throughout  Western  Europe,  because  he  took  his 
stand  on  the  Word  of  God  and  refused  to  recognize 
any  other  authority  or  source  of  revelation.  The 
Protestantism  of  to-day,  though  strong  in  num- 
bers and  in  wealth,  is  weak  in  the  face  of  skepticism 
on  one  hand  and  of  Romanism  on  the  other,  because 
it  does  not  know  how  much  it  can,  or  cannot, 
depend  on  the  truth  of  doctrines  taught  in  the 
Bible. 

"  A  religion  which  hath  no  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord  ' 
behind  it  can  never  be  anything  but  a  religion  of 
doubt.  There  is  no  power  for  self-propagation  in 
such  a  religion  ;  nor  is  there  any  power  in  it  to  give 
its  adherents  confidence  in  approaching  God.  The 
Protestant  churches  must  come  back  to  first  princi- 
ples in  this  matter,  and  then  neither  Romanism,  nor 


158  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

Paganism,  nor  Mohammedanism,  nor  skepticism 
will  be  able  to  stand  before  them." 

About  the  same  date — November  3,  1895 — the 
Catholic  Mirror  contained  an  editorial  concerning 
an  article  by  Cardinal  Gibbons,  published  in  the 
October,  1895,  issue  of  the  American  Catholic  Quar- 
terly Review,  in  which  the  Mirror  said  : 

"The  Catholic  church,  as  Fatlier  Zahm  remarked 
in  his  recent  admirable  volume,  has  ceased  to  con- 
tend with  Protestantism,  because  there  is  no  need  of 
it.  Sagacious  men  in  the  Protestant  ranks  them- 
selves admit  that  as  a  representative  system  it  is  so 
rapidly  disintegrating  that  before  long  it  must 
cease  to  exist.  An  article  in  the  Literary  Digest  of 
the  week  just  passed,  from  a  Protestant  source,  dis- 
pla3^s  the  position  of  the  sects  outside  the  Catholic 
church  in  so  hopeless  an  aspect  that  one  cannot 
wonder  at  the  concern  which  is  felt  for  many  Pro- 
testant Christians  b}^  candid  observers  of  current 
events  in  their  ranks.  The  drift — and  that  discour- 
aging word  drift  is  the  right  one — is  directly  away 
from  faith  in  the  divinity  and  teachings  of  Christ, 
toward  no  religion.  Is  it  not,  indeed,  away  from 
even  belief  in  God  ? 

"  Now,  after  considering  ever3^thing  and  making 
due  allowance  for  many  influences,  what  is  the  real 
cause  of  this  lapse  into  apathy,  indifference  and 
neglect?  More  than  anything  else,  it  is  the  absence 
of  a  central  teaching  authority  to  define  the  Word 
ofGod.tokeep  the  faith  pure  and  to  uphold  disci- 
pline. 


ROMAN   CATHOLICS   AND   SUNDAY.  159 

"  Hence,  as  Father  Zahm  vSa^'s,  Protestantism  as 
a  force  against  Catholicity  is  no  longer  of  conse- 
quence; what  the  church  is  now  called  upon  to  con- 
tend with  is  unbelief  and  all  the  chain  of  evils  and 
dangers  that  attend  it.  And  the  leading  minds  in. 
the  Protestant  ranks  see  this  as  \^  ell,  and  they  know 
that  the  coming  battle  will  be  for  Christianity  itself, 
and  accordingly  the  yearning  that  the^^  and  all  good 
men  feel  for  reunion  against  the  common  foe." 

We  think  that  the  Mirror  overestimates  the 
weakness  of  divided  Protestantism,  and  thatPoman- 
ism  will  not  have  the  easy  victory  it  seems  to 
expect.  But  the  vital  fact  remains  that  unless 
Protestantism  takes  stronger  grasp  on  an  authori- 
tative Bible  as  over  against  an  authoritative  church, 
the  key-stone  to  the  Protestant  arch  is  gone.  The 
most  valuable  point  of  Protestantism  in  the  conflict 
with  Romanism  is  the  authority  of  the  Bible  touch- 
ing the  Sabbath.  Cardinal  Gibbons  thinks  the  strug- 
gle is  already  ended  in  the  self-defeat  of  Protestant- 
ism which  professes  one  thing  and  practices  another. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  a  hearty  and  immediate  return  to 
the  Sabbath  as  ('hrist  Christianized  it,  would  give 
Protestants  a  vantage  ground  without  which  they 
will  fulfill  Cardinal  Gibbons'  prophecy  by  self-induced 
defeat.  The  choice  may  be  delayed,  but  it  cannot  be 
avoided. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  the  decline  of  Sun- 
day from  the  Puritan  theory  is  a  return  to  its  origi- 
nal, that  is,  the  Roman  Catholic,  t^q^e.  It  would 
not  be  fair  to  say  that  the  better  conception  of  Sun- 


160  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

da^^  especially  as  it  exists  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  of  the  United  States,  is  at  one  with  the  low- 
est and  definitely  vicious  holidayism  which  marks 
the  (continental  Sunday,  and  its  counterpart  in  our 
great  cities.  But  it  is  historically  true  that  the  Con- 
tinental Sunday  has  always  been  associated  with 
the  prevalence  of  Catholicism.  In  Spain  and  in 
South  America  the  worst  types  prevail.  All  this  is 
logical.  The  Catholic  theory  makes  church  rules  the 
highest  authority  in  the  matter.  The  higher 
factors  which  go  to  create  and  cultivate  conscience 
are  weak,  or  wanting.  More  than  this ;  the  sabbatic 
idea,  whether  (christian,  as  connected  with  the  sev- 
enth day,  or  Puritan,  as  connected  wdth  the  first 
day,  finds  no  place  in  the  Catholic  conception.  But 
there  is  an  element  of  decay  in  the  Protestant  ranks 
which  is  wanting  in  the  Catholic.  Protestantism 
attempted  to  build  on  higher  ground  than  the 
Catholic  occupied.  It  openly  and  vehemently 
ignored  and  denounced  the  Catholic  position.  But, 
in  fact,  it  remained  on  the  (.'atholic  ground  in 
essence,  and  actually  so  far  as  the  main  points  at 
issue  in  the  Sabbath  question  were  concerned.  At 
the  same  time,  in  discarding  the  authority  of  the 
church,  Protestantism  lost  an  immense  controling 
force,  which  made  it  less  capable  of  success.  The 
Catholic  church  holds  its  members  to  the  rules  of  the 
church  in  the  matter  of  Sunday  far  better  than  the 
Protestant  church  holds  its  members  to  the  Script- 
ures, which  it  claims  to  follow.  Hence  it  has  come 
to  pass  that  the  decline  of  regard  for  Sunda^^,  com- 


KOMAN    CATHOLICS   AND   SUNDAY.  161 

paratively,  if  not  actually,  is  worse  and  more  nearly 
hopeless  in  Protestant  America  than  it  is  in  Catholic 
Europe. 

Another  feature  of  the  case  which  has  arisen  in 
the  United  States  shows  how  the  weakness  of  Prot- 
estants has  already  driven  them  to  the  Catholics  for 
help.  In  every  attempt  to  secure  any  legal  safe- 
guard for  Sunday  that  promises  to  be  of  an3^  value, 
Protestants  are  forced  to  appeal  to  Catholics  for 
help.  In  the  valueless  interference  of  Congress  in  the 
attempt  to  close  the  Columbian  Exposition  on  Sun- 
da3%  Protestants  were  driven  to  appeal  for  help  to 
their  ancient  foe;  and  when  the  signature  of  Cardinal 
Gibbons  had  been  secured,  Protestants  heralded 
the  cry  that  in  this  signature  seven  mUHons  of  peo- 
ple had  petitioned  the  National  government  to  save 
the  falling  fortunes  of  the  imperiled  Sunday.  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  Congress  acted;  but  in  a  way  so 
easily  evaded  that  its  action  was  set  aside  as  a  child 
brushes  away  a  fly.  But  that  one  appeal  revealed 
how  completely  the  Catholic  power  holds  the 
balance  on  the  Sunday  question  in  the  United  States. 
Since  that  time  no  similar  effort  to  secure  aid  for 
Sunday  has  been  made  by  Protestants  without 
quick  appeal  to  Catholics  for  help.  In  the  cases 
which  have  been  before  Congress  since  that  time,  the 
aid  of  Catholics  has  been  constantly  and  eagerly 
sought.  These  facts  are  their  own  interpreter.  The 
Roman  Catholics  ought  to  be  better  satisfied  with 
the  situation  of  the  Sunday  question  in  this  country 
to-day  than   any  other  of  its  friends,  and  there  is 


162  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

abundant  evidence  that  they  are.  What  they  have 
published  within  the  last  ten  years — quoted  and 
referred  to  in  this  chapter — shows  that  they  are 
quietly  waiting  for  the  ripened  results  of  Protestant 
failure  to  bring  a  full  harvest  of  defeat  to  Protest- 
ants, and,  therefore,  of  victory  to  them.  So  far  as 
Sunday  is  concerned,  Catholics  may  well  repeat  their 
boast,  that  "  Protestantism  is  a  foe  no  longer  to  be 
feared . ' ' 


CHAPTER  X. 

WHY  SUNDAY   HAS   DECAYED. 

Sunday  Has  Decayed  Through  Internal  Influences — It  Has  Decayed 
in  Spite  of  Outward  Aid — Heredity  Compels  Decay — Destructive 
Germs  Antedate  Christianity  —  Gnostic  Anti-Judaism  —  Justin 
Martyr's  No-Sabbathism— First  Observance  of  Sunday  Was  Not 
as  a  Sabbath — Tertullian  Quoted — Beginning  of  Sunday  Legisla- 
tion Was  Pagan — First  Law  Quoted — Testimony  of  Edward  V. 
Neale — First  Thirteen  Hundred  Years  of  vSunday  Show  It  as  Never 
More  Than  a  vSemi-Religious  Holiday. 

^HE  facts  accumulated  in  the  preceding  chapters 
show  that  some  potent  and  persistent  influence 
has  wrought  the  decay  of  Sunday.  This  destructive 
influence  has  not  been  from  without.  Since  the  open- 
ing struggle,  w^hich  began  about  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  and  lasted  four  or  five  hundred  years, 
the  controlling  agencies  in  Church  and  State  have 
been  in  favor  of  Sunda3^  Ecclesiastical  tradition  has 
supported  it.  Popular  theology  has  defended  it. 
Civil  law  has  been  its  safeguard.  This  has  been  es- 
pecially true  of  Sunday  in  America.  During  the  early 
Colonial  period  Sunday  was  king.  It  commanded 
the  strongest  religious  sentiment.  Conscience  bowed 
to  it.  Custom  fostered  it.  Consecration  sacrificed 
for  it.  Civil  law  protected  it  as  a  strong-armed 
father  does  his  home  and  the  cradle  of  his  first-born. 
The  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans  of  the  Old  World  gave 
their  best  and  bravest  souls  for  the  new  world.  The 
sacred  Sunda^^  was  a  corner-stone  in  the  social  and 
religious  structure  which  they  builded,  from  Boston 


164  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

to  Jamestown.  That  decaj^  should  appear  as  it  did, 
that  it  should  progress  as  relentlessly  as  it  has,  is 
unaccountable,  except  through  inherent  causes. 

This  is  still  more  evident,  when  we  consider  that 
other  fundamental  and  practical  truths  of  Christian- 
ity have  not  decayed  thus.  By  a  strange  contra- 
diction, as  it  looks  on  the  surface,  the  decay  of  Sun- 
day appears  prominently  in  the  church,  side  by  side 
with  great  activit3^  in  other  lines  of  Christian  work. 
With  such  facts  at  hand  we  must  seek  with  care  for 
inherent  causes.  It  is  also  clear  that  the  causes  we 
seek  are  not  ephemeral,  nor  of  recent  origin.  Every- 
thing denotes  the  return  to  an  original  type.  Like 
a  wise  examiner  for  Life  Insurance,  we  must  inquire 
after  the  antecedents  and  parentage  of  Sunday. 

HEREDITY. 

Neither  men  nor  institutions  can  escape  from 
themselves.  To  be  well  born  is  a  large  ])art  of  suc- 
cess. To  be  ill  born  is  almost  certain  failure.  Dis- 
ease in  men  and  decay  in  institutions  are  often  con- 
genital. Environment  may  help  or  hinder,  as  develop- 
ment goes  on,  but  neither  environment  nor  develop- 
ment can  make  any  essential  change  in  original 
germs.  Better  elements,  mingled  with  the  germs  of 
decay,  may  prolong  the  struggle.  New  blood  may 
be  infused,  to  some  extent,  but  eventually  the  normal 
result  comes,  and  the  germs  of  decay  gain  the  ascend- 
ency. Nothing  is  plainer  in  the  results,  which  ap- 
pear in  all  history,  than  these  general  and  universal 
principles  of  heredity. 


WHY   SUNDAY   HAS   DECAYED.  165 

Another  universal  fact  must  be  kept  in  mind, 
viz.,  germs  of  disease  and  of  decay  hasten  in  develop- 
ment when  unusual  strain  comes  upon  a  man  or  an 
institution,  or  when  old  age  comes  on.  Within  the 
scope  of  these  universal  principles  in  the  philosophy 
of  history,  and  in  the  evolution  of  cr«eeds  and  institu- 
tions, we  shall  find  one  important  cause  for  the  inev- 
itable decay  of  regard  for  Sunday. 

The  birth  of  Sun-worship  antedates  Christianity 
by  a  long  period.  It  was  a  prominent  feature  of  the 
system  of  Nature- worship.  In  course  of  time  that 
system  found  two  forms  of  expression.  The  one  was 
higher,  and  comparatively  pure.  The  other  was  the 
depraved  and  gross  Sex-worship,  which  did  more  to 
corrupt  ancient  Paganism,  and  the  Jews  through 
contact  with  that  Paganism,  than  all  other  influences 
combined.  It  was  a  sort  of  deified  lust.  Sun-wor- 
ship, in  both  its  better  and  baser  forms,  was  brought 
into  Greece  and  Rome  before  the  time  of  Christ. 
Mingling  with  the  '' Isis  "-worship  from  Egypt,  it 
swelled  the  stream  of  social  corruption  which  was 
already  well  advanced  in  Greece  and  Rome  when 
Christ  appeared. 

As  Christian  histor\^  came  westward  from  Se- 
mitic soil  and  surroundings,  it  was  plunged  into  this 
sea  of  religious  and  social  impurit^^  It  was  the  grain 
of  divine  salt  in  the  mass  of  corruption.  P)ut  the 
most  disastrous  results  to  Christianity  came  from 
the  intellectual  philosophy  of  Greece,  rather  than 
from  religious-social  corruption.  That  repelled  by 
its  vileness.      The  philosophy  deceived  and  perverted 


166  DECADENCE    OE    SIXDAY. 

by  its  logic  its  rhetoric  and  its  theoretical  exalta- 
tion of  human  conclusions  called  "Truth."  One  of 
the  most  influential  and  seductive  types  of  the  popu- 
lar philosophies  was  "  Gnosticism."  This  dealt  pri- 
marily with  the  philosophy  of  creation.  A  special 
featui-e  of  this  system  made  it  intensely  "  Anti-Juda- 
istic."  In  the  scheme  of  creation  it  placed  Jahve  as 
National  God  of  the  Jews  and  the  Creator  of  the 
world  of  matter  in  the  list  of  inferior,  if  not  of  evil, 
gods.  Hence  Gnosticism  declared  that  neither  Jahve 
nor  his  people  could  be  accepted  as  anything  but  in- 
ferior. Being  the  creator  of  the  material  world,  his 
revelation,  the  Old  Testament,  could  not  be  a  book 
of  any  value,  except  to  the  Jews.  Out  of  this  philos- 
ophy, more  than  from  any  other  cause,  arose  opposi- 
tion to  the  Old  Testament  and  to  the  Jews.  No  Sab- 
bathism  and  disregard  for  the  authority  of  the 
Decalogue  came  from  the  same  source.  This  opposi- 
tion became  a  special  feature  of  Pagan-infected 
Christianity,  from  the  middle  of  the  second  century 
forward.  For  more  than  a  thousand  years  the 
germs  of  that  philosophy  have  poisoned  Christianity 
and  destroyed  conscientious  regard  for  the  Sabbath 
and  the  Fourth  Commandment.  The  expansion  of 
this  Pagan-born  disregard  for  God  is  the  core  of  the 
popular  no-lawism  and  no-Sabbathism,  which  still 
enervate  the  consciences  of  Christians  on  the  Sab- 
bath question. 

By  the  middle  of  the  second  century  after  Christ 
these  Pagan  influences  had  laid  strong  hold  on  the 
simple  faith  of  the  New  Testament  church.    Men  who 


WHY    SUNDAY    HAS    DECAYED.  167 

had  sought  m  vain  for  peace  and  satisfaction  in  the 
Pagan  systemsbegan  to  adopt  Christianity' as  being, 
in  some  of  its  parts,  better  than  what  they  had  be- 
fore. But  in  doing  so  they  mingled  Avith  it  large 
elements  of  former  Pagan  faith,  and,  most  of  all, 
their  theories  about  the  God  of  the  Jews  and  his 
Book.  The  whole  spirit  of  that  age  was  in  favor  of 
a  composite  religion,  and  men  with  the  best  of  pur- 
poses, but  lacking  in  spiritual  development,  accepted 
or  rejected  given  features  of  Christianity  as  freely  as 
one  chooses  foods  that  most  suit  his  fancy  and  his 
acquired  taste.  Justin  Martyr,  who  wrote  about 
the  middle  of  the  second  centur^^  was  an  earnest  and 
able  leader  of  this  class  of  philosopher-Christians. 
He  w^as  born  and  reared  a  Pagan.  He  was  the  first 
man  to  make  any  definite  mention  of  Sunday  in  con- 
nection with  Christianity.  But  what  is  of  greater 
moment,  he  elaborated  the  first  theory  of  no-Sab- 
bathism  in  connection  with  Christianity.  This  is 
found  in  his  ''Dialogue  With  Trypho,  The  Jew.'' 
The  reader  who  has  not  Justin's  book  at  hand  will 
find  his  ideas  reiterated  by  any  popular  preacher  or 
writer  of  this  time,  who  asserts  that  the  Sabbath 
was  only  an  institution  of  the  Jews,  and  is  not  bind- 
ing on  Christians. 

Justin  makes  but  one  reference  to  Sunday.  But 
since  it  is  the  first  and  definite  one  in  the  history  of 
the  Christian  church,  it  will  be  well  to  consider  it 
here  with  care.  (Note:  For  an  examination  of  the 
relation  of  Sunday  to  New  Testament  history,  and 
for  a  critical  examination  of  the  claims  of  anv  refer- 


168  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

ences  earlier  than  the  time  of  Justin,  see  "  BibHcal 
Teachings  Concerning  the  Sabbath  and  the  Sunday," 
and  "A  Critical  Histor^^  of  the  Sabbath  and  the  Sun- 
da}'  in  the  Christian  Church,"  by  the  author  of  this 
book.) 

For  the  sake  of  giving  the  reader  a  complete  view 
of  the  birth  of  Sunda}^  in  connection  with  Christian- 
ity, we  give  the  entire  passage  from  Justin,  a  thing 
that  many  writers  in  favor  of  Sunda\^  fail  to  do. 
Here  it  is  : 

"On  the  da\^  which  is  called  Sunday  there  is  an 
assembly  in  one  place  of  all  w^ho  dwell  either  in 
towns  or  in  the  country,  and  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Apostles,  or  the  writings  of  the  Prophets,  are  read, 
as  long  as  the  time  permits.  Then,  when  the  readei* 
hath  ceased,  the  President  delivers  a  discotirse  in 
which  he  reminds  and  exhorts  them  to  the  imitation 
of  all  these  good  things.  We  then  all  stand  up  to- 
gether and  put  forth  prayers.  Then,  as  we  have 
already  said,  when  we  cease  from  prayer,  bread  is 
brought,  and  wine,  and  water;  and  the  President  in 
like  manner  offers  up  prayers  and  praises  with  his 
utmost  power;  and  the  people  express  their  assent 
by  saying  Amen.  The  consecrated  elements  are  then 
distributed  and  received  by  every  one,  and  a  portion 
is  sent  by  the  deacons  to  those  who  are  absent. 

"Each  of  those  also  who  have  abundance,  and  are 
willing,  according  to  his  choice,  gives  what  he  thinks 
fit ;  and  what  is  collected  is  deposited  with  the  Presi- 
dent, who  succors  the  fatherless  and  widows,  and 
those  who  are  in  necessitv  from  disease  or  anv  other 


WHY   SUNDAY   HAS   DECAYED.  169 

cause;  those  also  who  are  in  bonds,  and  the  strangers 
who  are  sojourning  among  us ;  and,  in  a  word,  takes 
care  of  all  who  are  in  need. 

"  We  all  of  us  assemble  together  on  Sunday,  be- 
cause it  is  the  first  day  in  which  God  changed  dark- 
ness and  matter  and  made  the  world.  On  the  same 
day  also  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  rose  from  the  dead. 
For  he  was  crucified  the  day  before  that  of  Saturn  ; 
and  on  the  day  after  that  of  Saturn, .which  is  the  da^^ 
of  the  Sun,  he  appeared  to  his  apostles  and  disciples 
and  taught  them  what  we  now  submit  to  your 
consideration."     "  First  Apology,"  chapter  67.) 

Analyzed,  this  gives  the  following.  A  religious 
service  was  held  on  Sunday.  Beyond  that  fact  there 
is  no  evidence  of  an\'  cessation  of  business.  There  is 
no  word  of  Sunday  as  the  Sabbath,  nor  is  it  or  its 
observance  associated  with  the  Fourth  Command- 
ment. Sunday  appears  as  a  new  institution,  based 
on  reasons  wholly  unlike  those  which  produced  the 
Sabbath.  The  first  reason  is  drawn  directly  from 
Gnostic  speculation.  The  second  reason  is  a  pure 
invention,  so  far  as  the  Bible  is  concerned.  Men  talk 
loosely  about  observing  Sunday  in  honor  of  the 
resurrection  of  Christ.  But  the  fact  remains  that  the 
Bible  nowhere  associates  the  observance  of  Sunday 
or  any  other  day  with  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 
The  Bible  does  not  even  say  that  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion took  place  on  Sunday.  It  was  made  known  to 
the  disciples  on  that  day,  but  the\^  did  not  believe 
the  report  to  be  true.  There  is  much  evidence  that 
the  exact  time  of  Christ's  resurrection  was   in  the 


170  DECADENCE    OF    SUNDAY. 

evening  of  the  Sabbath.  (Matt.  28  : 1.)  Justin  is  the 
first  writer  to  make  it  a  reason,  direct  or  indirect, 
for  any  regard  for  Sunda\'.  The  first  recorded  rea- 
sons for  holding  an  assembh^  on  Sunday  are  coined 
by  Justin.  They  are  both  extra-Biblical  and  anti- 
Biblical. 

The  leading  influences  in  this  birth  of  Sunday  as 
a  day  of  assembling  are  easily  seen.  In  the  theories 
of  Justin,  the  Old  Testament,  the  Decalogue,  and  the 
Sabbath,  had  been  pushed  out  of  sight.  Semi-pagan 
leaders  had  begun  the  work  of  harmonizing  and 
mingling  Christianity  and  the  prevailing  Pagan  sys- 
tems. Analogy  had  been  invented  between  the 
Rising  Sun  and  the  Risen  Christ.  This  form  of  intro- 
ducing Sunday  into  Christianity-  was  the  first  defi- 
nite product  in  the  process  of  religious  syncretism 
which  developed  so  widely  and  rapidly  in  the  suc- 
ceeding centuries.  We  are  therefore  prepared  for  the 
following  description  of  Sunday  as  a  chief  holiday, 
about  fifty  years  after  Justin  tells  of  its  introduction 
into  Christian  history.  Note  also  how  many  other 
Pagan  holida3-s  Christians  then  observed.  In  the 
last  years 'of  the  second  century,  or  in  the  earlier 
years  of  the  third,  TerttilHan,  the  "Father  of  Latin 
Christianity,"  himself  converted  from  Paganism  a 
few  years  before,  wrote  against  idolatry  as  among 
the  greatest  of  prevailing  sins.  In  this  treatise  (On 
Idolatry,  chap.  14)  he  says  : 

"The  Holy  Spirit  upbraids  the  Jews  with  their 
holydays,  'Your  Sabbaths  and  new  moons, and  cere- 
monies,' says  he,  *  My  soul  hateth.'   By  us,  to  whom 


WHY    SUNDAY    HAS   DECAYED.  171 

Sabbaths  are  strange,  and  new  moons  and  festivals 
formerly  beloved  of  God;  the  Saturnalia  and  New 
Year's  and  Midwinter's  festivals  and  Matronalia  are 
frequented — presents  come  and  go — New  Year's  gifts 
— games  join  their  noise — banquets  join  their  din! 
Oh  better  fidelity  of  the  heathens  to  their  own  sect 
[religion]  which  claims  no  solemnity  of  the  Chris- 
tians for  itself!  Not  the  Lord's-day,  not  Pentecost, 
even  if  they  had  known  them,  would  they  have 
shared  with  us;  for  thev  would  fear  lest  they  should 
seem  to  be  Christians.  We  are  not  apprehensive  lest 
we  seem  to  be  heathens.  If  any  indulgence  is  to  be 
granted  to  the  flesh,  you  have  it.  I  will  not  say 
your  own  days  (Note:  This  may  mean  theil'  own 
personal  birthdays,  or  it  may  mean  all  other  festi- 
vals besides  Sunday),  but  more  too;  for  to  the  hea- 
thens each  festive  day  occurs  but  once  annually; 
you  have  a  festive  day  every  eighth  day.  Call  out 
the  individual  solemnities  of  the  nations  [heathens], 
and  set  them  out  in  a  row ;  they  will  not  be  able  to 
make  up  a  Pentecost." 

No  better  evidence  is  needed  to  show  that  Sun- 
day was  born  to  be  a  holiday.  With  the  exception 
of  a  brief  period  under  the  first  impulse  of  Puritan- 
ism, it  has  never  been  otherwise  than  a  holiday.  At 
the  first,  as  Tertullian  indicates,  it  was  closeh^  allied 
to  the  "  Wild  Pagan  Solar  day  of  Antiquity." 

SUNDAY   LAW. 

Another  element  in  the  early  life  of  Sunday  in  the 
Christian  church  which  made  holidavism  inevitable. 


172  DECADENCE    OF    SUNDAY. 

was  the  introduction  of  civil  law  making  it  a  holi- 
day. This  legislation  was  purely  Pagan  in  form  and 
in  spirit.  The  first  law  by  Constantine  in  321,  A.D., 
was  part  of  an  old  and  well-defined  system  of  Pagan 
laws,  which  made  certain  days  holidays  in  honor  of 
the  gods  to  whom  they  were  dedicated.  Here  is  the 
first  appearance  of  Sunday  law  in  history: 

"Let  all  judges,  and  all  city  people,  and  all 
tradesmen,  rest  upon  the  venerable  day  of  the  Sun. 
But  let  those  dwelling  in  the  country  freely,  and  with 
full  libert}^  attend  to  the  culture  of  their  fields ;  since 
it  frequently  happens  that  no  other  day  is  so  fit  for 
the  sowing  of  grain,  or  the  planting  of  vines;  hence 
the  favorable  time  should  not  be  allowed  to  pass, 
lest  the  provisions  of  heaven  be  lost."  (Cod.  Justin, 
III.     Tit.  12,  L.  3.) 

This  was  issued  on  the  seventh  of  March,  A.  D., 
321.  In  June  of  the  same  year  it  was  modified  so  as 
to  allow  the  manumission  of  slaves  on  the  Sunday. 
The  reader  will  notice  that  this  edict  makes  no  ref- 
erence to  the  da}^  as  a  Sabbath,  as  the  Lord's-day, 
or  as  in  an3'  way  connected  with  Christianity. 
Neither  is  it  an  edict  addressed  to  Christians.  Nor  is 
the  idea  of  any  moral  obligation  or  Christian  duty 
found  in  it.  It  is  mereh^  the  edict  of  a  heathen  em- 
peror, addressed  to  all  his  subjects,  Christian  and 
heathen,  who  dwelt  in  cities,  and  were  tradesmen,  or 
oflficers  of  justice,  to  refrain  from  their  business  on 
the  "venerable  day"  of  the  god  whom  he  most 
adored,  and  to  whom  in  his  pride  he  loved  to  be 
compared. 


WHY    SUNDAY    HAS   DECAYED.  173 

We  quote  a  single  authority  and  refer  the  reader 
to  a  "  Critical  History  of  Sabbath  and  Sunday,"  for 
a  full  presentation  of  authorities  and  details.  Here 
is  the  testimony  of  Edward  V.Neale,  an  English  bar- 
rister of  learning  and  renown.  It  is  from  his  work 
on  "  Feasts  and  Fasts,"  p.  6;  see  also  p.  86,  ff.  Air. 
Neale  sa^^s : 

*'  That  the  division  of  da3^s  into  juridici,  et  ferinti, 
judicial  and  non-judicial,  did  not  arise  out  of  the 
modes  of  thought  peculiar  to  the  Christian  world 
must  be  known  to  every  classical  scholar.  Before  the 
age  of  Augustus,  the  number  of  days  upon  which, 
out  of  reverence  to  the  gods  to  whom  they  were  con- 
secrated, no  trials  could  take  place  at  Rome,  had  be- 
come a  resource  upon  which  a  wealthy  criminal 
could  speculate  as  a  means  of  evading  justice;  and 
Suetonius  enumerates  among  the  praiseworthy  acts 
of  that  emperor,  the  cutting  off  from  the  number 
thirty  days,  in  order  that  crime  might  not  go  un- 
punished nor  business  be  impeded." 

Sixty-five  years  passed  before  there  was  any 
other  Sunday  law  in  the  Roman  Empire.  In  396, 
A.  D.,  a  law  appears  w^hich  so  far  introduced  the 
Christian  idea  as  to  couple  the  term  "Lord's-day" 
with  the  Pagan  name  Sunda\^  But  then,  as  ever 
afterwards,  Sunday  was  under  the  same  general 
holiday  regulations  as  many  other  days.  It  had  no 
pre-eminence  over  them.  Twice  after  the  full  devel- 
opment and  control  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church 
had  made  Christianity  the  state  religion,  there  were 
some  restrictions  placed  on  Sunda\^  after  the  anal- 


174  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

ogj  of  the  Jewish  legislation  concerning  the  Sab- 
bath. In  the  most  prominent  of  these,  the  laws  for- 
bade work  from  "three  o'clock  on  the  Sabbath  until 
sunrise  on  Monday,"  and  it  is  curious  to  note  that 
miraculous  punishments  are  reported  to  have  fallen 
upon  those  who  dared  to  transgress  the  civil  law, 
from  the  moment  the  hour  of  three  w^as  reached  on 
"Saturda3^" 

Without  following  in  detail  the  fortunes  of  Sun- 
day through  the  centuries  of  Roman  Catholic  suprem- 
acy, it  is  only  needful  to  sa)^  that  for  the  first  thir- 
teen hundred  years  of  its  connection  with  Chris- 
tianity^, Sunday  never  rose  above  a  semi-religious 
ecclesiastical  holidayism.  This  includes  the  first 
transition  period  from  the  middle  of  the  second  cent- 
ury to  the  Reformation  begun  by  Luther.  During 
the  first  four  or  five  hundred  3^ears  of  the  thirteen 
hundred,  while  the  church  was  departing  from  the 
New  Testament  type,  under  Pagan  influences,  and 
undergoing  the  changes  which  culminated  in  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  church,  the  Sabbath  fought  stubbornly 
for  the  place  in  which  Christ  left  it,  and  for  the  re- 
gard which  his  teachings  and  example  demanded.  It 
was  forced  out  of  the  church  by  the  poison  of  no- 
Sabbat  hism  and  the  influence  of  civil  law  and  ecclesi- 
astical anathema.  But  in  spite  of  all  this  it  never 
wholly  disappeared.  Various  branches  and  groups 
of  dissenters  from  the  authority  of  the  Roman  church 
kept  its  observance  alive,  and  formed  the  germ  of 
the  denominational  life  of  the  English  Seventh-day 
Baptists,  who  were  a  prominent  factor  in  the  in- 


WHY   SUNDAY   HAS   DECAYED.  175 

fluences  which  finally  brought  in  the  Puritan  Sun- 
day. But  the  important  truth  to  be  kept  in  mind  at 
this  point  is  that  the  £rst  thirteen  centuries  of  the 
life  of  Sunday,  as  in  some  sense  an  institution  of 
Christianity,  were  centuries  of  holidayism. 


CHAPTER  XL 

WHY   THE   "puritan"   SUNDAY    HAS   DECAY'ED. 

Reforms  Center  Around  One  Prominent  Idea — They  Come  by  Reaction 
When  Evil  Harvests  are  to  be  Reaped— Sabbath  Reform  Not  Promi- 
nent in  the  Lutheran  Movement — Augsburg  Confession  Teaches 
No- Sabbath  ism — Dr.  Hessey's  Testimony — Sabbath  Question  in 
England — Position  of  the  English  Seventh-daj-  Baptists— Puritan- 
ism Wavered  and  Compromised — Nicholas  Bownde  Quoted — The 
Puritan  Sunday  Compromise  Has  Dacayed  from  Inherent  Weak- 
ness— Such  Decay  Was  Inevitable. 

A  S  in  the  case  of  the  Continental,  so  in  the  case  of 

the  Puritan  Sunday,  ^^e  must  seek  the  primary 

reasons  for  its  decay  in  the  causes  which  brouo:ht  it 

into  being.     A   brief  preview  is   essential  to  a   full 

understanding  of  these  causes. 

Reforms  center  around  one  representative  idea. 
Great  reforms  usually  begm  at  the  point  where  great 
evils  begin  to  die,  by  the  law  of  reaction.  Each  stage 
of  the  reformation  must  come  in  its  own  order. 
Error  grows  tyrannical  with  age.  It  imposes  bitter 
experiences  before  its  victims  rebel.  The  Lutheran 
movement  began  when  the  burden  of  "Church 
authority"  became  intolerable.  The  S3'stem  ot  "In- 
dulgences" was  the  lowest  point  possible,  in  the 
Papal  apostasy.  Here  Luther  made  the  stand. 
Thus,  salvation  through  faith,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  the  church  or  the  sanction  of  its  authority, 
became  the  central  idea  in  the  first  stage  of  the  re- 
formatory movement.  Protestation  had  failed. 
New  ground  had  to  be  assumed,  through  courageous 


A   DECAYING   COMPROMISE.  177 

struggle.  Under  such  circumstances,  other  issues 
were  forgotten,  and  the  battle  raged  around  the 
question  of  man's  right  to  read  God's  Word,  and  to 
believe  in  Christ,  without  ecclesiastical  intervention. 

Aside  from  these  general  principles  of  reform, 
there  were  special  reasons  why  the  Sabbath  question 
did  not  find  a  prominent  place  at  the  opening  of  the 
Reformation.  The  theory  which  had  been  held  so 
long,  that  the  Sabbath  w^as  Jewish  only,  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  Continental  Reformers.  The  flagrant 
evils  which  had  come  in  with  the  Romish  doctrine  of 
church-appointed  holy  days  led  to  their  rejection, 
and  nothing  was  left  but  the  no-Sabbath  platform. 
Thus,  prejudice  against  Judaism  and  hatred  for  the 
Papacy  set  the  Sabbath  question  aside. 

The  "Augsburg  Confession,"  which  was  drawn  up 
by  Melancthon,  and  is  still  recognized  as  the  stand- 
ard of  faith  in  the  Lutheran  church,  is  plain  in  its  un- 
qualified no-Sabbathisni.  It  discards  the  Sabbath 
and  the  authority  of  the  Decalogue  in  the  matter  of 
Sabbath-keeping  to  the  fullest  extent. 

The  extreme  Sabbathlessness  of  the  theories  pro- 
pounded by  the  Continental  reformers  is  set  forth 
clearly,  by  the  ablest  defender  of  Sunday  which  Eng- 
land has  produced,  for  a  centurA^  Dr.  Augustus 
Hessey.  In  Hampton  Lectures  for  1866,  speaking  of 
their  position  concerning  Sunday,  he  says  (Lectures, 
pp.  165,  172.): 

"With  one  blow,  as  it  were,  and  with  one  con- 
sent, the  Continental  reformers  rejected  the  legal  or 
Jewish  title  which   had  been  set  upon   it,   the  more 


178  DECADENCE    OF   SUNDAY. 

than  Jewish  ceremonies  and  restrictions  by  which,  in 
theory  at  least,  it  had  been  encumbered;  the  army  of 
holy  da3'S  of  obligation  b\^  which  it  had  been  sur- 
rounded. But  thev  did  more.  They  left  no  sanction 
for  the  da}^  itself,  which  could  commend  itself  power- 
fully to  men's  consciences.    .    .    . 

"  We  are  now,  I  think,  in  a  condition  to  sum  up 
the  views  of  the  Continental  reformers  of  the  six- 
teenth centurA'  on  the  subject  before  us.  Sabba- 
tarians, indeed,  those  eminent  men  were  not.  They 
are  utterl\^  opposed  to  the  literal  application  of  the 
Fourth  Commandment  to  the  circumstances  of 
Christians.  They  scarceh^  touch  upon  that  com- 
mandment except  to  show  that  the  Sabbath  has 
passed  away."  .  .  .  "They  feel  it  necessary  to  defend 
their  practice  on  grounds,  sometimes  perhaps  of 
apostolic  example  (with  the  proviso,  however,  that 
such  example  is  to  be  taken  only  for  what  it  is 
worth),  but  generally,  of  antiquity,  of  the  church's 
will,  of  the  church's  wisdom,  of  considerations  of  ex- 
pediency, of  regard  to  the  weaker  brethren,  and 
sometimes  on  lower  grounds  still.  And  neither  the 
day  itself,  nor  the  interval  at  which  it  recurs,  is  of 
obligation.  Our  Lord's  resurrection  is  made  a  decent 
excuse  for  the  day,  rather  than  the  oiiginal  reason, 
or  one  of  the  original  reasons  for  its  institution." 

The  Continental  Sunday,  under  the  first  stage  of 
the  Protestant  movement,  was  shorn  of  the  element 
of  ecclesiastical  authority  which  it  had  possessed 
under  Catholicism.  It  may  well  be  questioned 
whether  its  adherents  were  not  therefore  worse  off, 


A    DECAYING    COMPROMISE.  179 

SO  far  as  the  sense  of  obligation  was  concerned,  than 
they  had  been  as  Catholics.  This  beginning  of  Prot- 
estantism rejecting  the  Catholic  position  without 
returning  to  the  Bible  removed  that  sense  of  obliga- 
tion to  authoritj^  which  is  an  essential  element  in  all 
religion . 

THE  SITUATION  IN  ENGLAND. 

The  Protestant  movement  met  the  Sabbath  ques- 
tion in  England  at  an  early  day.  The  combined  in- 
fluence of  Catholicism  and  of  the  Continental  reform- 
ers had  made  holidayism  dominant,  on  Sunday,  and 
deeply  irreligious.  At  first  the  Puritans  plead  for  a 
better  observance  of  the  Sunday  as  a  part  of  the  gen- 
eral work  of  civil  and  religious  reform.  As  they  con- 
tinued to  seek  for  higher  life  and  greater  puritA^  the 
Sabbath  question  grew  in  importance.  This  was 
not  fortuitous.  Men  never  come  into  closer  relations 
with  God  without  feeling  thesacredness  of  the  claims 
which  his  law^  imposes ;  and  no  part  of  that  law 
stands  out  more  prominently  than  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment, when  the  heart  seeks  to  bring  highest 
honors  to  him  who  is  at  once  Father  and  Redeemer. 
As  these  men  threw  off  the  shackles  of  church  au- 
thority, and  stood  face  to  face  with  God,  recognizing 
him  as  their  only  law  giver,  they  were  driven  toward 
higher  ground  concerning  the  Sabbath  question. 

On  the  one  hand,  the  destructive  influence  of 
Catholicism  and  of  Continental  Protestantism  forced 
the  necessity  of  immediate  and  radical  reform  con- 
nected with  Sunday.  On  the  other  hand  a  new  fac- 
tor appeared,  which,  though  represented  by  a  minor- 


180  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

ity,  exerted  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  Sabbath 
question.  The  descendants  of  the  Waldenses  in  Bo- 
hemia, Holland,  and  other  parts  of  Northern  Europe, 
formed  the  material  for  Sabbath-keeping  groups 
which  came  to  light  when  the  rays  of  Reformation 
began  to  illumine  the  long  night  of  Papal  supremacy. 
These  Sabbath-keepers  were  Baptists,  and  hence 
were  classed  with  the  despised  "Anabaptists,"  who 
were  made  still  more  odious  b^^  the  fanaticism  of  a 
few  atMunster  during  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  Most  writers  have,  therefore,  passed  over 
the  histor\^  of  these  years  b\^  saying  of  Sabbath-ob- 
servance that  it  was  "revived  by  some  sectaries 
among  the  Anabaptists,"  or  words  to  this  effect. 
When  Sabbath-keepers  were  persons  of  prominence 
more  definite  notice  is  taken  of  them.  Enough  can 
be  gathered,  however,  to  show  that  Sabbath-keep- 
ers were  not  uncommon  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
from  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century  forward. 
Through  the  loss  of  records  by  fire,  we  are  unable 
to  fix  the  date  of  the  earliest  organization  of  Sev- 
enth-day Baptist  churches  in  England.  But  their 
strength  and  the  influence  of  their  position  did  not 
depend  on  organization.  Other  influences  forced 
their  views  to  the  front,  in  many  cases,  as  much  as 
their  own  efforts  did.  The  Puritan  party^  was  al- 
ready face  to  face  with  the  attempt  to  make  the 
Bible  the  supreme  standard  in  all  religious  matters. 
That  attem])t  compelled  them  to  consider  the  mat- 
ter of  returning  to  the  Sabbath.  The  logic  of  the 
case  was  plain.     If  God  was  the  supreme  law-giver. 


A   DECAYING   COMPROMISE.  181 

through  the  Bible,  men  must  rettirn  to  the  observ- 
ance of  his  Sabbath.  The  conclusion  was  not  even 
debatable.  The  Seventh-da3^  Baptists  said  to  their 
Puritan  brethren:  "If  3'ou  are  to  be  genuine  Protest- 
ants, you  must  unite  with  us  in  returning  to  the 
Sabbath."  The  Puritans  saw  the  truth,  and  leaned 
strongly  toward  the  Seventh-day  Baptist  position. 
But  poHtical  influence  was  powerful  and  compli- 
cated. Prejudice  was  bitter  and  confusing.  The 
Puritan  leaders  saw  the  point,  considered,  wavered, 
and  decided  to  compromise.  They  said  :  "  The  Bible 
must  be  made  supreme,  and  we  must  accept  the 
Fourth  Commandment  as  binding  on  all  men.  We 
cannot"  hold  to  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  church  au- 
thorit3%  and  we  dare  not  adopt  the  loose  notions  of 
the  Continental  reformers."  Up  to  that  point  all 
was  logical,  consistent  and  Biblical.  But  the  evil 
spirit  of  compromise  came  in  and  said:  "Neverthe- 
less we  cannot  accept  the  Seventh-da3^  but  we  will 
attempt  to  transfer  the  law  to  Sunday." 

This  compromise  was  elaborated  and  formulated 
by  Nicholas  Bownde,  and  first  published  in  1595,  in 
a  book  entitled,  "  The  Doctrine  ofthe  Sabbath  Plainly 
Laid  Forth  and  Soundly  Proven."  Through  more  than 
thirt\'  pages  Mr.  Bownde  considers  the  origin,  nature 
and  history  ofthe  Sabbath,  from  the  Bible,  and  form- 
ulates his  argument  after  the  manner  ofthe  Seventh- 
day  Baptists  at  that  time.  Coming  at  length  to  the 
crucial  point,  he  attempts  to  transfer  the  name,  the 
authority,  and  purpose  of  the  Sabbath,  together 
with  all  that  the  Bible  says  about  it,  to  the  Sunday, 


182  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

in  the  following  paragraph  :  We  give  the  paragraph 
entire,  that  the  reader  maj^  see  how  illogical,  un- 
scriptural,  and  non-Protestant,  this  birth  of  the 
Puritan  Sunday  was.    The  italics  are  Mr.  Bownde's : 

"But  now  concerning  this  very  special  seventh 
day  which  w^e  now  keep  in  the  time  of  the  gospel 
that  is  well  known,  that  it  is  not  the  same  it  was 
from  the  beginning,  w^hich  God  himself  did  sanctify 
and  whereof  he  speaketh  in  this  commandment,  for 
it  was  the  day  going  before  ours,  which  in  Latin  re- 
taineth  its  ancient  name,  and  is  called  the  Sabbath, 
which  we  also  grant,  but  so  that  we  confess  it  must 
always  remain,  never  to  be  changed  any  more,  and 
that  all  men  must  keep  hoh^  this  seventh  day  which 
was  unto  them  not  the  seventh,  but  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  as  it  is  so  called  so  many  times  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  so  it  still  standeth  in  force,  that  we 
are  bound  unto  the  seventh  day,  though  not  unto 
that  very  seventh.  Concerning  the  time,  and  per- 
sons by  whom,  and  when  the  day  was  changed,  it 
appeareth  in  the  New  Testament,  that  it  w^as  done 
in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  and  b_v  the  apostles  them- 
selves, and  that  together  with  the  day,  the  name 
was  changed,  and  was  in  the  beginning  called  the  hrst 
day  of  the  week,  afterwards  the  Lords  day.'' 

Such  w^as  the  Puritan  Sunday,  at  birth.  Every 
student  of  the  New  Testament  knows  that  Christ 
and  his  apostles  did  not  change  the  Sabbath.  On  the 
contrary,  the  theory  of  such  a  change  was  never 
promulgated  until  Mr.  Bownde  created  it  to  escape 
the   arguments  of  the  Seventh-day  Baptists  on  one 


A    DECAYING   COMPROMISE.  183 

side,  and  the  morass  of  Continental  theories  on  the 
other.  It  was  a  new  creation,  made  to  meet  an 
emergenc3^  Mr.  Bownde  made  no  effort  to  prove 
his  position  beyond  referring  to  Acts  20 :  7,  and  2 
Cor.  16 :  2.  These  passages  are  so  inapplicable  to 
his  theory  that  they  need  no  notice  here. 

There  are  at  least  three  prominent  elements  of 
decay  in  this  Puritan  Sunday.  1.  It  was  a  com- 
promise between  a  plain  truth  toward  which  the 
Protestant  movement  was  leading  its  adherents, 
and  the  system  of  errors  from  which  the^'^  were  flee- 
ing. Such  compromises  are  alwa3^s  weak,  and,  in 
the  end,  are  often  wicked.  They  are  permeated  with 
germs  of  decay.  2.  It  was  utterly  unscriptural.  It 
was  anti-scriptural.  It  set  the  Sabbath  aside  to 
make  way  for  the  Sunday.  Such  an  idea,  much  less 
command,  is  never  broached  in  the  Bible,  and  such 
a  step  is  positively  forbidden  by  the  example  of  Christ, 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath.  3.  It  retained  two  fundament- 
al features  of  the  Roman  Catholic  position  ;  the  Sun- 
day, and  the  support  of  it  by  civil  law  under  the 
authority  of  a  state-church.  In  short,  it  was  a  weak 
half-way  measure,  illogical,  unscriptural,  unprotest- 
ant.  It  was  a  denial  of  the  authority  of  the  exam- 
ple of  Christ  as  a  guide  to  his  followers.  Its  decay 
was  as  sure  from  the  hour  of  birth  as  is  that  of  an 
apple  unsound  at  the  core.  It  was  as  sure  of  with- 
ering as  a  plant  is,  at  the  roots  of  which  a  gnawing 
worm  lies  concealed.  That  it  has  decayed  the  pre- 
ceding pages  fully  prove.  It  was  born  to  holidayism 
and  decav. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

WHY  PROTESTANTS  CANNOT  ARREST  THE  DECAY  OF 
SUNDAY. 

Virulence  of  Germs  of  Decay — Protestants  Powerless  Unless  They  Re- 
turn to  the  Sabbath — Faith  in  Puritan  Theory  Gone — Piotestants 
Cannot  Unite — Congreg:ationalists  Undermining  Sundaj^  :  a  Speci- 
men Case — Chicago  Times-Herald  Quoted  —  Bishop  Vincent's 
Theory — Mr.  Moody  in  Golden  Rule  Advises  Keeping  any  Day  that 
Is  Convenient — Summary  of  Reasons  Why  Decay  of  Sunday  Can- 
not Be  Checked — Greater  Evils  Impend  Because  This  Decay 
Must  Go  On. 

TTTE  sa^'  Protestants,  because  it  is  well  understood 
that  the  great  Catholic  world  has  reason  to 
rejoice  in  the  decay  of  the  whole  Puritan  Sun- 
day idea.  The  fundamental  reason  lies  in  the 
virulence  of  the  original  germs  of  der-ay  which  were 
retained  in  the  heart  of  the  Puritan  theory.  It  is 
like  a  case  of  pulmonar3^  disease,  which  no  change  of 
climate,  no  trial  of  new  remedies,  and  no  prayers  of 
love  can  arrest.  It  is  like  the  slow  poison  of  diph- 
theria, which  shuts  its  tightening  grasp  on  heart- 
power  and  vitalit^^  and  laughs  at  ph3^sician,  nurses 
and  remedies.  There  is  a  divine  antidote,  but  up  to 
date  the  friends  of  Sunday  have  studiously,  if  not 
contemptuously,  pushed  that  aside.  That  remedy  is 
a  return  to  the  actual  Protestant  position  hy  accept- 
ing the  Sabbath  of  Jehovah,  and  of  his  Son,  the  Lord 
of  the  Sabbath.  When  Puritan  Protestants  are  will- 
ing to  give  up  the  compromise  which  their  fathers 
made,   and   welcome  the    true  Sabbath   which   was 


REFORM  MEANS  REVOLUTION.  185 

then  discarded  as  an  unholy  thing,  success  and  heal- 
ing will  begin.  Until  then,  each  new  effort  will  do 
no  more  than  tell  the  story  of  its  own  ineffectual- 
ness. 

A  second  general  reason,  which  involves  several 
subordinate  and  resultant  ones,  is  that  the  friends  of 
the  Puritan  Sunday  have  lost  faith  in  it.  Tradition- 
ally, they  hold  to  it.  Actually,  the\'  do  not.  The 
core  of  that  creed  was  that  Sunday  became  the  Sab- 
bath by  the  transfer  of  the  Fourth  Commandment 
to  it,  on  Biblical  authorit^^ 

Few  men,  if  any,  can  be  found  now  who  assert, 
or  attempt  to  defend,  that  idea.  Having  given  up 
that  position,  there  is  no  common  ground  on  which 
the  friends  of  Sunday  can  be  united.  A  few  years  ago, 
when  the  death  of  the  late  E.  F.  Shepherd  left  the 
Presidency  of  the  American  Sabbath  Union  vacant, 
a  man  whose  name  would  have  added  weight  to  the 
movement  was  importuned  to  become  the  President. 
After  a  careful  consideration  of  the  question,  he  re- 
fused to  do  so  because  "There  was  no  common 
ground  on  which  the  friends  of  Sunday  could  be  unit- 
ed for  effective  work."  This  state  of  things  grows 
worse  each  year,  and  lack  of  union  cripples  the  few 
efforts  that  are  made  to  check  decay. 

The  reasons  which  are  offered  for  observing  Sun- 
day are  almost  as  variant  as  are  the  persons  making 
them.  They  are  often  antagonistic,  and  mutually 
destructive.  These  reasons  are  pervaded  with  in- 
definiteness.  The}^  have  no  grip  of  obligation.  Here 
are  some  of  the  more  common  ones.     "  One  day  is  as 


186  DECADENCE    OF    SUNDAY. 

good  as  another."  "  A  seventh  part  of  time  is  all 
that  is  demanded."  "  The  law  of  rest  does  not  de- 
mand any  one  definite  or  specific  day  of  the  week, ' '  etc. 
Under  such  teachino^s  Sunday  must  decline,  and  no- 
Sabbathisra  is  fostered. 

Low-ground  reasons  are  most  common.  "One 
da}^  in  each  week  ought  to  be  observed  as  a  day  of 
rest,  for  sake  of  the  general  good."  "Men  live 
longer,"  "Animals  work  better."  "Machinery 
wears  better."  "Men  can  earn  more  money." 
"  Worldly  prosperity  is  promoted."  Such  arguments 
as  these  appear  oftener  than  any  others. 

In  point  of  checking  decay,  they  are  like  a  handful 
of  rushes  in  the  swollen  Nile. 

We  might  follow  this  line  of  facts  indefinitely, 
showing  that  the  main  reasons  for  decay  are  found 
in  the  theories  concerning  Sunday,  and  in  the  con- 
fused and  weak  efforts  of  those  who  call  themselves 
its  friends,  but  who  have  lost  faith  in  it.  Preceding 
testimony  has  fully  established  these  facts,  but  we 
add  a  few  more  items  at  this  point. 

[n  1896  an  earnest  Christian,  who  had  been  for 
many  years  an  active  worker  in  a  Congregational 
church  in  the  state  of  Connecticut,  becoming  inter- 
ested in  the  Sabbath  question,  and  being  anxious  to 
find  full  support  for  Sunday-observance,  wrote  to 
three  prominent  Congregational  pastors  in  New 
England,  asking  the  following  question  : 

"  Will  you  kindly  show  me  what  passages  in  the 
Bible  command  us  to  keep  Sunday  instead  of  the 
seventh  dav,  Saturday?" 


REFORM  MEANS  REVOLUTION.  187 

(Note. — This  was  a  matter  of  private  corre- 
spondence, so  that  while  we  are  not  at  liberty  to 
name  the  writer,  we  are  permitted  to  give  the  answer 
entire.  We  will  also  put  an\^  reader  who  desires  in 
communication  with  the  questioner.) 

The  first  answer  was  this  :  "  There  are  no  such 
verses,  from  which  you  naturally  draw  the  inference 
that  keeping  Sunday  is  unscriptural.  But  3'ou  must 
remember  that  we  do  many  things  rightly  for  which 
no  definite  command  can  be  found  in  the  Bible.  The 
Bible  is  not  a  hand-book  of  rules  regulative  of  all 
our  acts,  but  a  book  of  principles  for  thoughtful  peo- 
ple to  apply." 

The  second  was  this :  ''  What  you  ask  cannot  be 
proved  from  the  New  Testament.  Its  proof  is  derived 
in  other  ways." 

The  third  was  this:  "As  to  the  question  you 
ask,  that  I  refer  you  to  one  or  more  Bible  verses 
where  we  are  commanded  to  keep  Sunday  instead  of 
Saturday,  I  confess  inability.  I  am  somewhat 
familiar  with  the  arguments  brought  forward  in 
favor  of  both  days  as  a  sacred  time,  but  can  hardly 
recall  any  passage  that  will  give  a  command  to  keep 
the  first  day  at  all  comparable  with  many  to  keep 
the  seventh." 

The  frankness  with  which  these  men  confessed 
the  truth  is  commendable,  and  it  is  in  strong  contrast 
with  the  evasions  and  assumptions  with  which  men 
less  inteUigent  and  frank  seek  to  cover  the  truth. 
But  consider  what  it  means,  when  this  seeker  for 
truth  is  told  that  there  is  no  scriptural  authority  for 


188  DECADEXCK   OF   SUNDAY. 

Sunda3Mveeping.  Onh-  one  conclusion  is  possible, 
viz.,  to  continue  Sunday-observance  is  to  continue 
an  unscriptural  practice,  and  the  case  is  made  worse 
rather  than  better  by  the  plea  that  this  unscriptural 
practice  may  be  justified  by  other  unscriptural 
practices  ! 

The  third  writer  is  still  more  explicit,  and  his  an- 
swer adds  a  crushing  blow  to  the  unscriptural  Sun- 
day, when  he  draws  the  parallel  between  Sunday 
and  the  Sabbath,  and  declares  that  there  is  no  pas- 
sage for  Sunday  and  "many"  which  command  us 
"to  keep  the  seventh  day."  This  writer  alone,  of 
the  three,  adverts  to  the  real  question  in  the  issue,  as 
presented  by  the  inquirer.  The  authorit\^  of  the  Sab- 
bath, the  plain  command  of  God,  is  left  out  of  con- 
sideration. Herein  lies  the  blindness  and  deep  irrev- 
erence of  these  men.  They  do  not  seem  to  take  God's 
Sabbath  and  the  divine  law  into  the  account.  Sun- 
day is  unscriptural,  but  still  Christians — lovers  of 
God— v\diose  standard  of  duty  is  the  Bible,  may  go 
on  keeping  it.  But  the  Sabbath,  for  which  a  plain 
and  unrepealed  command  stands  forth,  the  key- 
stone of  the  arch  of  the  Decalogue,  the  Sabbath  which 
Christ  loved,  honored,  preserved,  obeyed,  fulfilled, 
exalted  and  Christmnized,  that  it  might  fulfill  its 
higher  mission  in  his  kingdom,  that  Sabbath  comes 
not  into  the  counsels  of  these  leaders  of  an  inquiring 
member  of  their  own  household  !  Has  God  no  right 
to  a  hearing  in  the  case?  Is  this  inquiring  soul  to  be 
told:  Sunday  is  an  unscriptural  institution,  but  you 
may  go  on   keeping  it   and  disregarding  the  law  of 


REFORM  MEANS  REVOLUTION.  189 

God,  which  is  not  of  sufficient  account  to  come  into 
this  consideration?  Do  these  brethern  mean  all  that? 
That  is  what  their  inquiring-  member  must  logicallv 
conclude. 

Sucli  answers  destro}^  Sunday.  In  the  case  under 
consideration,  as  in  many  similar  cases,  for  such 
cases  are  by  no  means  infrequent,  this  devout  Con- 
gregationalist  had  to  choose  between  continuing  in 
an  unscriptural  practice,  or  accepting  the  Sabbath. 
The  latter  choice  was  made.  Had  it  not  been  made, 
adherence  to  Sunday  from  that  time  under  the  teach- 
ing of  these  Congregational  clergymen  would  have 
been  merely  nominal.  Conscience  decays  under  such 
teaching,  unless  Sunday  is  abandoned,  and  the  Sab- 
bath is  accepted. 

Another  instance  of  teachings  which  hasten  the 
decay  of  Sunday  through  the  influence  of  men  in 
high  positions  is  this.  In  the  summer  of  1897,  the 
Chicago  Times-Herald  reported  an  address  by  Bishop 
Vincent  before  the  students  of  Chicago  University,  as 
follows : 

''Bishop  Vincent,  of  the  M.  E.  church,  talked  to 
the  students  of  the  Univerisity  of  Chicago  last  even- 
ing on  Sunday-observance.  He  spoke  in  Kent  The- 
atre, and  at  the  beginning  of  his  address  surprised 
his  hearers  by  saying  that  he  did  not  care  on  what 
da\^  anyone  observed  the  Sabbath,  just  so  one  da}^ 
of  the  w^eek  was  set  apart  for  meditation  and  rest. 
It  made  no  difference,  he  stated,  whether  the  day  was 
observed  between  sunrise  and  sunset,  or  within  other 
divisions  of  time." 


190  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  such  teaching  sup- 
ported and  enforced  b}'  an  eloquent  bishop  of  the 
Methodist  church  must  promote  the  decaA^  of  Sunday 
in  the  lives  of  University  students  already  assailed 
b_v  the  Sabbathless  influences  of  Chicago.  He  who 
teaches  thus  must  hold  Sunday  in  light  esteem. 

Before  the  reader  has  recovered  from  his  surprise 
over  what  Bishop  Vincent  teaches,  it  will  help  him 
to  see  how  this  decay  of  regard  for  Sunday  has  per- 
meated the  teachings  of  another  popular  religious 
leader.  In  the  Golden  Rule,  Jan.  16,  1897,  Mr. 
Moody  writes  on  "  How  shall  we  spend  the  Sab- 
bath." This  suggestive  paragraph  appears  in  the 
first  half  of  his  paper: 

"A  man  ought  to  turn  aside  from  his  ordinary 
employment  one  day  in  seven.  There  are  many 
whose  occupation  will  not  permit  them  to  observe 
Sunday,  but  they  should  observe  some  other  day  as 
a  Sabbath." 

That  is  logical  application  of  the  "One-day-in- 
seven"  theory.  But  the  destructiveness  of  such  in- 
definiteness  is  glaringl3^  apparent.  It  yields  en- 
tirely the  idea  that  Sunday  should  be  observed  for 
its  own  sake.  This  is  right,  as  a  matter  of  fact. 
And  Mr.  Moody  is  to  be  commended  for  ackowledg- 
ing  that  fact.  But  it  also  ignores  equally  the  de- 
mands of  the  Bible  and  the  example  of  Christ  in  re- 
gard to  the  Seventh-day,  the  genuine  Sabbath. 

When  men  seek  "salvation,"  Mr.  Moody  holds 
them  rigidly  to  God's  way  of  doingthings  ;  to  repent- 
ance that  they  may  find  forgiveness  and  release  from 


REEORM  MEANS  REVOLUTION.  191 

the  demands  of  broken  law.  Is  God's  law  in  general 
imperative,  and  in  particular  of  no  account?  Accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Aloody,  the  Sabbath  law  in  particular  is 
not  of  as  much  account  as  ordinary  business.  Keep 
Sunday  if  you  can  conveniently ;  otherwise  Wednes- 
day, or  Friday,  says  Mr.  Moody.  Bring  God's  law 
to  your  convenience.  Business  conies  first.  "Sab- 
bath-keeping" is  of  much  less  account.  Choose  a  day 
that  will  interfere  least  with  your  business,  and  com- 
pel God  to  accept  that  as  obedience  to  one  of  the  Ten 
Commandments.  Why  not  do  thus  with  all  the 
commandments?  Is  it  any  wonder  that  Sunday  de- 
cays under  such  teachings  from  D.  L.  Moody,  in  the 
Golden  Rule,  organ  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Move- 
ment, Avhich  we  are  told  is  to  be  the  great  power  to 
"  Rescue  Sunday- "  ? 

Let  us  sum  up  the  reasons  why  the  well-advanced 
progress  of  Sunday  into  holida^'ism  and  Sabbath- 
lessness  cannot  be  checked. 

1.  The  ripened  fruit  of  more  than  twelve  hun- 
dred years  of  history  in  Europe  has  given  nothing 
better  than  the  "  Continental  Sun da^^"  even  under 
the  strong  and  steadying  influence  of  a  vigorous 
Catholic  ecclesiasticism. 

2.  The  Protestant  Continental  reformers  made  the 
case  worse,  in  some  respects,  by  destroying  the  power 
of  the  church,  in  the  matter,  and  teaching  a  false 
conception  of  "Freedom"  which  was  closeh-  allied 
to  theological  anarchy.  This  course  strengthened 
and  increased   the  holida3asm  that  Roman  Catholic 


192  DECAUEXXE   OF   SUNDAY. 

rule  had  created,  but  had  held  in  bounds  by  church 
authorit^^ 

3.  The  Puritan  movement  vStopped  half  way  in 
its  progress  toward  truth,  faltered,  compromised, 
and  made  failure  certain.  This  compromise,  like  a 
fever,  has  run  its  course,  and  Sunday  has  gone  back 
to  its  original  type  of  holidayism  and  no-Sabbathism. 
This  decline  is  prominent  in  the  churches  which  Pur- 
itanism planted,  and  popular  religious  leaders  are 
furthering  the  downward  movement  by  word  and 
deed. 

4.  Sunday  laws  have  reached  a  point  where  they 
foster  evil,  by  indirection,  at  least.  The  forces  of  sin 
rejoice  when  men  are  at  leisure.  With  the  great  ma- 
jority the  leisure  created  by  the  Sunda\^  laws  is  irre- 
ligious or  non-religious.  In  this  the  saloon  and  its 
allies  rejoice.     On  such  leisure  they  fatten. 

5.  If  in  the  decline  of  regard  for  Sunday  there 
was  evidence  that  the  churches  and  the  non-church 
goers  were  moving  in  the  direction  of  something  bet- 
ter, we  might  be  content.  If  the  decay  of  Sunday 
brought  Christians  toward  Pan-Sabbathism  ;  if  re- 
ligious set  vice  and  culture  were  advanced  on  alidad's, 
as  the  decline  for  Sunday  increases,  the  case  would 
present  some  rays  of  light.  But  the  exact  opposite 
is  true.  Christians  in  Boston  petitioned  for  certain 
Sunday  trains,  that  they  might  the  better  attend 
their  favorite  churches.  Now  these  trains,  greatly 
increased  in  number  and  capacity,  carry  thousands 
of  pleasure-seekers  away  from  all  worship  and  re- 
ligious culture.    Christians,  deluded  by  the  remnants 


REFORM  MEANS  REVOLUTION.  193 

of  the  Pagan-state-church  idea,  still  support  Sunday 
laws  against  legitimate  business,  and  the  saloon  and 
brothel,  and  dance  house,  and  other  forms  of  pleas- 
ure and  dissipation  catch  the  leisure-tempted  masses, 
and  turn  them  farther  from  the  churches.  This  is  the 
picture  which  the  friends  of  Sunday  paint  with  facts 
that  cannot  be  set  aside.  It  is  a  sad  picture.  It  fore- 
bodes worse  things.  This  situation  is  intercreative 
and  self-perpetuating.  It  is  the  culmination  of  funda- 
mental errors  concerning  the  Sabbath  and  the  Sun- 
day. Any  reform  which  is  strong  enough  to  lift  the 
church  and  the  world  out  of  this  morass  must  be 
radical  and  revolutionary.  What  that  reform  must 
be  forms  the  theme  of  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HOW   CAN  SABBATH-REFORM  BE  ATTAINED  ? 

Sabbath  Reform  Must  Be  Revolutionary — Begin  With  Christ,  Lord  of 
the  Sabbath— Early  Church  Lost  Spiritual  Power  With  the  Loss  of 
the  Sabbath— Christ's  Sabbath  Has  Had  No  Fair  Trial— Sabbath  Is 
God's  Representative  in  Human  Life — Only  Sabbatic  Resting- 
Brings  Spiritual  Blessings — Sabbath  Observance  Honors  God's 
Presence—God  the  Source  of  Our  Spiritual  Life — Prophetic  Voice 
of  the  Sabbath — {Spiritual  Life  Enriched  by  its  Promises — A  Return 
to  the  Sabbath  Essential  to  Spiritual  Growth — Discard  Civil  Law 
in  Sabbath  Reform — Base  All  Reform  on  Biblical  and  Religious 
Grounds — No  Return  to  the  "Jewish"  Sabbath — Roman  Catholic 
Theories  Now  Ascendant — Obedience  Leads  to  the  Truth — Noth- 
ing but  Truth  and  Obedience  Will  Avail. 

rriHE  general  situation  as  to  Sunday  is  full  of  fore- 
boding.  Decay  and  impending  ruin  fill  the  hori- 
zon. Fear  and  despair  are  voiced  or  suggested  in 
what  the  friends  of  Sunday  say.  Can  anything  be 
saved  from  the  wreck  ?  Can  this  sad  and  swift  de- 
cline be  checked  ? 

It  can.  But  the  reform  must  be  revolutionary. 
Patch-work  is  worse  than  useless.  Temporizing  is 
deeper  failure.  The  decay  of  the  Puritan  Compro- 
mise has  given  new  vigor  to  the  original  hoHdayism. 
There  is  nothing  of  true  Sabbathism  left  in  Sunday 
to  be  rescued.  New  ground  must  be  taken.  New 
definitions  must  be  made.  This  new  ground,  among 
other  things, must  be  an  enlaiged  and  uplifting  con- 
ception of  Protestantism  concerning  itself  and  its 
mission.     Here  is  a  working  outline. 


RETURN   TO   GOD'S   SABBATH.  195 

START  WITH  JESUS  CHRIST,  LORD   OF  THE  SABBATH. 

Christ  found  the  Sabbath  buried  under  a  load  of 
ceremonialism  and  meaningless  requirements.  By 
precept  and  example  he  freed  it  from  these  and  fitted 
it  for  spiritual  service  in  his  new  kingdom.  Instead 
of  abrogating  it  or  treating  it  as  of  little  or  no  ac- 
count, he  made  constant  efforts  to  exalt  and  honor 
it.  Christ  Christianized  the  Sabbath,  and  whoever 
throws  it  SLway,  or  dishonors  it,  is  thus  far  disloj^al 
to  him. 

So  long  as  the  early  church  followed  Christ's  ex- 
ample and  kept  the  Sabbath  as  he  left  it  to  them,  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  church  remained  at  "full  tide." 
After  the  time  of  the  New  Testament,  when  Pagan 
philosophy  and  prejudice  against  the  Jews  began  to 
teach  the  falsehood  that  the  Sabbath  was  only  a 
"Jewish  affair,"  and  that  it  was  not  binding  on 
Christians,  the  spiritual  life  and  power  of  the  church 
declined  in  swift  and  increasing  ratio.  This  was  es- 
pecially true  after  Christianity  became  a  religion  of 
the  Roman  Empire  by  civil  law,  and  Sunday,  and 
other  festivals  appointed  by  the  state-church,  were 
exalted  and  fostered.  Thus  the  Sabbath  was  driven 
out,  slowl}^  but  steadily.  Nowhere  are  the  evidences 
of  cause  and  effect  seen  more  clearly  than  in  the  apos- 
tac3^  of  the  church  from  Christ's  Christianity  after 
the  falsehoods  of  no-lawism  and  no-Sabbathism 
were  adopted  in  the  creed  of  paganized  and  decHning 
Christianit^^  The  cyclone  does  not  mark  its  path 
with  desolation  more  surely  than  these  errors,  which 


196  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

began  with  the  rejection  of  the  Sabbath,  left  a  trail  of 
spiritual  decay  behind  them. 

The  Christianized  Sabbath  which  Christ  gave  to 
his  followers  has  had  no  fair  trial  since  the  days  of 
the  New  Testament  church.  Pushed  aside  because 
not  understood,  it  has  wandered  in  the  wilderness 
until  now.  A  brilliant  woman  once  said  of  Robert 
Ingersoll  that  instead  of  opposing  Christianity  he 
was  busy  "bombarding  the  gravestones  of  departed 
theories."  Since  the  time  of  Justin  Martyr,  who  led 
in  mingling  a  large  element  of  Paganism  with  Chris- 
tianity, men  have  been  condemning  an  imperfect  con- 
ception of  the  Sabbath,  \vhich  Christ  condemned  and 
discarded,  and  ignoring  the  Sabbath  which  he,  its 
divine  Lord,  left  to  his  church.  To  understand  what 
this  was  we  must  rise  above  the  common  notions 
concerning  the  nature  and  purpose  of  the  Sabbath. 

First  and  alwa3^s,  the  Sabbath  is  God's  sacred 
representative  in  time.  Its  mission  is  to  bring  God 
constantU^  and  definitely  before  men  and  into  the 
affairs  of  human  life.  The  Sabbath  stands  among 
the  da3's  as  the  Bible  does  among  books,  as  Christ 
does  among  men.  The  coming  of  God  into  human 
life,  in  an^^  way,  brings  a  long  train  of  blessings.  His 
purpose  is  to  dwell  in  close  communion  \^  ith  men  at 
all  times.  The  first  and  last  mission  of  the  Sabbath 
is  to  promote  this  permanent  residence  of  God  with 
men.  Such  a  residence  awakens  man's  love  and 
leads  him  to  obedience.  It  nourishes  hope  and 
strengthens  faith.  It  protects  from  temptation  and 
sustains  in  trial.      It  brings  comfort  to  our  sorrow 


RETURN   TO   GOD's   SABBATH.  197 

and  wisdom  to  our  ignorance.  It  leads  to  repentance 
and  strengthens  us  for  duty.  By  drawing  men  to- 
gether in  common  love  for  God,  it  secures  regular 
worship  and  constant  instruction  in  righteousness. 
The  Day  of  God  leads  to  the  House  of  God,  to  the 
Book  of  God,  and  to  the  Son  of  God. 

The  cessation  from  business  which  the  Sabbath 
requires  brings  many  minor  blessings.  But  these 
come  only  when  the  cessation  is  induced  through  the 
behests  of  religion  and  conscience.  Holidayism  with- 
out religion  results  in  dissipation,  which  is  w^orse,  as 
a  whole,  than  honest  and  legitimate  work.  The  true 
meaning  of  the  Sabbath  law^  has  been  greatly  per- 
verted and  obscured  by  two  common  and  superficial 
definitions,  namely,  that  the  primary  meaning  of  the 
Sabbath  is  "rest,"  and  its  primary  purpose  to  "com- 
memorate the  \vork  of  creation."  These  are  such  im- 
perfect "half-truths  "  as  to  be  practicalh^  falsehoods. 
Such  conceptions  are  even  below  the  Jewish  interpre- 
tation and  immeasureably  below  the  teachings  of 
Christ,  the  "Lord  of  the  Sabbath." 

THE    SABBATH     IS    GOD's     REPRESENTATIVE,     AND    ITS 

OBSERVANCE  IS  A  CELEBRATION  IN  HONOR  OF 

HIS  PRESENCE. 

The  superficial  views  of  men  who  do  not  enter 
into  the  deeper  meaning  of  the  Sabbath  lead  them  to 
sa^^:  "I  can  rest  and  worship  on  one  day  as.  well 
as  another."  As  an  animal,  a  man  may  rest  at 
one  time  as  w^ell  as  another,  if  the  physical  surround- 
ings are  the  same.  This  is  onh'  the  animal  concep- 
tion.   As  a  thinking  and  worshiping  child  of  God,  the 


198  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

case  is  wholly  different.  To  such  an  one  the  reason 
for  resting  is  the  determining  factor.  What  he  will  do 
when  he  ceases  from  worldly  affairs  will  depend  on 
why  he  ceases.  If  rest  is  the  only  or  the  main  purpose, 
hewdll  seek  quiet  as  the  tired  ox  does,  or  such  change 
of  occupation  or  form  of  recreation  as  will  accord 
with  his  tastes  and  surroundings.  The  low^er  im- 
pulses of  the  animal  \\\\\  control  in  these  choices. 
Herein  lies  the  deeperphilosophy  of  choice  and  action 
which  makes  holidayism  and  debauchery  inevitable 
wdien  leisure  is  sought  without  religious  conscience, 
oris  made  obligator}^  by  law.  Men  say:  "  We  do 
not  propose  to  make  men  worship  by  law,  but  we 
must  make  them  rest  b3^1aw."  All  experience  shows 
that  when  men  ai'e  thus  compelled  to  be  idle,  not 
being  religious,  they  will  be  dissipated,  according  to 
tastes  and  surroundings.  The  purpose  of  the  soul 
determines  what  men  will  do  when  they  have  leisure. 
Hence  it  is  clear  that  they  will  not  worship  on  any 
day,  unless  the  soul  is  controlled  by  the  Sabbath 
idea  and  by  love  for  him  whom  the  Sabbath  rep- 
resents. 

But  this  truth  goes  deeper  still.  God  is  the  source 
and  center  of  all  spiritual  life.  True  worship  has  its 
dwelling  in  the  soul.  Spiritual  life  and  growth  spring 
from  the  soul.  True  worship  is  not  forms  nor  cere- 
monies, but  communion  with  God,  and  such  thoughts, 
acts  and  deeds  as  spring  from  this  communion.  It 
is  the  outward  manifestations  of  the  soul  w^hich  is 
loving  God  and  living  in  him.  The  recognition  of 
God's  presence  is  a  fundamental  element  in  worship. 


RETURN  TO  GOD's  SABBATH.  199 

Knowing  him  to  be  present,  men  draw  near  to  him 
with  pure  hearts,  fervently.  True  w^orship  brings 
men  to  the  fountain  of  spiritual  life.  It  begets 
strength,  faith,  power,  rest,  sanctification,  peace. 
The  Sabbath,  as  God's  day,  draws  men  to  him  and 
promotes  such  communion  and  worship.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  Sabbath  also  goes  out  into  the  week, 
holding  men  nearer  to  God,  and,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  continuing  this  communion  and  repeating 
this  worship.  But  since  the  earthly  life  of  the  week 
must  be  filled  with  things  which  are  more  specifically 
earthl3%  the  weekly  Sabbath  must  continue.  "Uni- 
versal Sabbathism  "  is  not  for  this  life,  although  he 
who  "keeps  the  Sabbath  holy"  realizes  more  and 
more  the  ideal  and  unending  Sabbath  to  which  we 
shall  coiiie  in  heaven.  Argument  does  not  need  to  go 
farther  to  show  that  true  worship  and  God's  sacred 
day  are  inseparable. 

THE   FORW^ARD   LOOK   OF   THE   SABBATH. 

The  Sabbath  has  a  forward  look  which  glows 
with  peace  and  J03',  and  which  is  a  factor  of  great 
power  in  developing  and  enlarging  spiritual  life.  As 
the  symbol  of  God's  Sabbath,  it  points  to  the  eternal 
resting  in  the  unending  life  in  heaven.  He  rests  in  a 
glory  we  are  as  unable  to  measure  as  we  are  to  meas- 
ure the  love  by  which  we  are  redeemed.  The  Sabbath 
points  us  to  that  glory  as  the  rest  which  remaineth 
for  the  people  of  God.  Each  weekly  Sabbath  sa3^s : 
Take  courage.  Find  comfort.  Earthl^^life  is  gliding 
b3^     The  week  of  your  earth  life  will  soon  be  passed. 


200  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

Shadows  and  sorrows  will  soon  be  left  behind  you. 
A  few  more  days  and  the  Sabbath-crowned  life  will 
welcome  you  to  go  no  more  out  forever. 

The  sands  of  time  are  sinking, 
The  dawn  of  heaven  breaks. 

The  graveless  land  is  in  sight.  StumbHng  will 
soon  be  over.  Ignorance  will  soon  be  swallowed  up 
in  that  knowledge  which  comes  when  we  are  face  to 
face  with  the  Everlasting  Light.  Perfected  rest  and 
full  redemption  await  you  a  little  farther  on.  The 
doors  of  the  heavenly  Sabbath  are  swinging  wide  to 
welcome  you  to  the  company  of  the  ransomed  who 
dwell  in  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory;  Sabbath 
glory  which  echoes  with  the  Sabbath  songs  of  the 
angels  of  God. 

Such  messages  and  promises  enrich  spiritual  life 
and  purify  the  soul  as  nothing  earth-born  can  do. 
Festivals  ordained  by  custom  and  the  authority  of 
the  church  have  no  such  message.  Rest-days  under 
the  civil  law  cannot  lift  the  soul  thus.  All  these  are 
like  the  stagnant  pools  of  the  morass  when  compared 
with  the  ever-flowing  springs  which  gush  from  the 
heart  of  the  everlasting  hills. 

The  only  hope  for  genuine  Sabbath  Reform  is  in 
the  restoration  of  the  Sabbath  based  on  the  unabro- 
gated law  of  God  as  written  in  the  Decalogue  and  as 
interpreted  by  Christ.  This  would  lay  a  permanent 
and  efficient  basis  for  conscience  and  loyalty  toward 
God  and  the  Bible. 

On  such  a  basis  the  spiritual  life  of  the  church 
would  rise  to  a  point  which  it  has  never  reached,  and 


RETURN  TO  GOD's  SABBATH.  201 

can  never  reach  under  the  prevailing  theories.  All  of 
these,  openly  or  virtually,  set  aside  the  Bible  and  the 
law  of  God  and  the  example  of  Christ  in  the  matter 
of  Sabbath-observance.  So  long  as  Sabbath-observ- 
ance is  made  a  matter  of  convenience,  so  long  as  it 
is  left  to  the  authority  of  custom  or  made  to  rest  on 
the  dictum  of  civil  law,  there  can  be  no  basis  for 
loyalty  toward  God,  no  soil  in  which  to  grow  a  Sab- 
bath conscience  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  friends  of 
Sunday  declare  that  prominent  forms  of  its  desecra- 
tion would  cease  if  the  patronage  of  Christians  were 
withdrawn.  Beyond  question,  No-Sabbathism  and 
the  half-truth  of  the  Puritan  compromise  have  ener- 
vated spiritual  life  and  destro^-ed  conscience  beyond 
the  hope  of  redemption,  unless  new  ground  is  taken. 
Hence  the  Sabbath,  though  long  rejected  and  sec- 
ularized even  by  the  church,  rises  in  this  hour  of 
peril  and  ruin  through  Xo-Sabbathism  and  offers,  in 
the  name  of  God  the  law-giver,  and  of  Christ  the 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  the  one  and  onh^  road  back  to 
higher  spiritual  life,  to  firm  and  abiding  conscience 
and  to  the  long  train  of  blessings  which  are  enfolded 
in  love,  loyalt^',  obedience  and  communion  with  God, 
through  his  divine  Sabbath. 

DISCARD   CIVIL   LAW   IX   SABBATH   REFORM. 

True  Sabbath  Reform  demands  a  revolution  in 
the  matter  of  Sunday  laws.  The  history  of  fifteen 
hundred  3'ears  proves  that  Sunday  laws  have  fos- 
tered holida3'ism.  The  nature  of  Christ's  kingdom, 
and  his  definite  teachings  forbid  every  attempt  to  en- 


202  DECADENCK   OF   SUNDAY. 

force  the  observance  of  any  day  as  the  Sabbath,  by 
civil  law.  We  have  shown  in  a  former  chapter  that 
Sunday  laws  started  in  the  Pagan  conception  of  re- 
ligion as  a  department  of  the  Imperial  government, 
to  be  created  and  regulated  by  civil  law.  But  accord- 
ing to  Christ  and  the  Bible,  God  is  the  supreme  law- 
giver, and  Christ  is  the  supreme  interpreter  of  his 
law.  The  first  and  last  intent  of  the  work  of  Christ 
is  to  bring  men  face  to  face  with  God,  and  to  keep 
them  in  constant  communion  with  him.  When  the 
civil  law  takes  precedence  of  the  divine,  in  any  relig- 
ious duty,  human  authority  is  exalted  and  divine  au- 
thority is  debased.  When  Christianity  ascended  the 
throne  of  the  Caesars,  it  lost  far  more  in  spiritual 
power  and  purit3^  than  it  gained  in  royal  patronage. 
On  no  point  w^as  the  decline  in  spiritual  power  more 
apparent  than  in  the  matter  of  the  Sabbath.  There 
is  not  the  slightest  trace  of  a  Christian  idea  in  any 
Sunda}^  law  until  386  A.D.  Logically  and  histori- 
call3%  civil  law  can  make  nothing  more  than  a 
holiday. 

Puritanism  retained  the  Pagan-Catholic  theory 
of  Sunday  as  a  civil  institution  to  be  regulated  and 
enforced  by  civil  law.  It  applied  this  idea  with  strict- 
ness modeled  after  the  Levitical  code.  But  this  ad- 
dition of  Leviticalism  could  not  save  Sunday  from  in- 
ured and  therefore  inevitable  holidayism.  This  has 
been  demonstrated  by  its  history  in  the  United 
States.  The  logic  of  the  case  is  as  plain  as  is  the  fact 
of  holida^^ism.  In  Sunday  law  the  human  authority 
comes  between  the  soul  and  God's  law  ;  or  rather,  it 


RETURN  TO  GOD's  SABBATH.  203 

sets  God's  law  aside  that  it  may  assume  control. 
This  destroys  conscience.  If  Sunday  were  the  true 
Sabbath,  the  result  w^ould  be  the  same.  Sabbath  ob- 
servance is  pre-eminently  the  product  of  religion.  It 
rests  on  heart-life  and  spiritual  communion  with 
God.  It  is  far  more  than  a  form,  a  ceremony,  a  rest- 
ing. The  term  "  Civil  Sabbath  "  is  a  contradiction. 
There  can  be  a  civil  Sabbath  no  more  than  there  can 
be  a  civil  baptism,  a  civil  Lord's  Supper,  or  a  civil 
prayer. 

WHAT  SHALL  BE  DONE? 

Base  the  question  of  Sabbath  and  of  Sabbath 
Reform  on  the  Bible.  Deny  the  right  of  the  civil  law 
to  do  more  than  protect  men  in  conscientious  obedi- 
ence to  the  divine  law.  Hold  men  face  to  face  with 
God  and  his  law.  Accept  Christ  as  the  best  inter- 
preter of  that  law\  Stand  on  his  interpretation,  and 
follow  his  example.  Christianity^  is  dying  as  to  Sab- 
bathism,  because  it  has  traded  Christ's  Sabbath  for 
Constantine's  Sunday.  It  has  bartered  the  Bible  for 
the  half-pagan  traditions  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
state-church.  Protestants  have  increased  the  evil  by 
rejecting  the  strong  ecclesiasticism  of  Rome.  Such  a 
return  to  the  Sabbath,  and  the  example  of  Christ, 
will  give  a  permanent  Biblical  and  religious  basis  for 
faith  and  conscience.  It  will  lift  the  Sabbath  ques- 
tion out  of  the  low  ground  of  convenience  and  out- 
ward form  into  which  it  has  sunk.  It  will  take  the 
issue  out  of  politics,  and  make  it  one  of  religion. 
Cease  to  expect  that  the  irreligious  and  the  non-re- 
ligious will  keep  the  Sabbath   an^'-  more  than  they 


204  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

will  pray,  or  profess  faith  in  Christ  by  baptim.  On 
this  line  a  victorions  revolution  awaits  true  Sabbath 
Reform.     On  any  other  line,  defeat  lies  in  wait. 

''not   the  JEWISH  SABBATH." 

We  make  no  plea  for  a  return  to  the  "Jewish 
Sabbath."  What  we  ask  is  that  the  followers  of 
Christ  return  to  God's  Sabbath,  according  to  the 
teachings  and  the  example  of  Christ.  Accept  the  Sab- 
bath as  Christianized  by  Christ,  its  Lord.  The  popu- 
lar theories  concerning  Sunday-  make  Justin,  Con- 
stantine  and  Roman  Catholic  traditions  the  stand- 
ard of  faith  and  practice.  They  ignore  the  Decalogue, 
discard  the  example  of  Christ,  and  deny  the  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  the  Protestant  Reformation. 
Under  such  a  system  the  decay  of  Sunday  is  as  inev- 
itable as  the  freezing  of  water  when  the  mercury 
registers  below  zero.  The  final  failure  of  Sunday 
cannot  be  disguised.  Its  best  friends  proclaim  it. 
They  mourn  over  it.  They  sit  helpless  while 
the  decay  goes  on.  The  fact  of  decay  surrounds 
them.  The  consciousness  of  decay  is  within  them. 
Protestants  are  helpless  in  a  double  sense.  Only 
two  choices  are  before  them.  One  is  a  return 
to  Catholicism.  This  surrenders  the  doctrine  which 
gave  birth  to  Protestantism,  and  acknowledges 
what  Catholics  claim,  that  Protestantism  is  a 
sublime  failure.  In  every  effort  made  by  Protest- 
ants for  what  they  call  Sabbath  Reform,  there  is  no 
semblance  of  success  without  appeal  to  Catholics  for 
help.    Such  appeal  is  welcomed  by  Catholics,  because 


RETURN  TO  GOD'S  SABBATH.  205 

it  is  surrender  on  the  part  of  Protestants.  Of  all 
others,  Catholics  have  most  reason  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  situation.  They  are  calmly  waiting  the 
self-destruction  of  the  Protestant  claims  as  to  Sun- 
day. As  far  as  the  future  of  Sunday  is  concerned, 
Protestants  stand  on  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea  of  fail- 
ure. A  few  seem  to  think  that  defeat  may  be  cov- 
ered by  ignoring  the  facts  and  proclaiming  more 
loudly  than  before  that  Sunday  is  "God's  Holy 
Day,"  and  assuming  that  what  the  Bible  says  about 
the  Sabbath  applies  to  Sunday. 

The  transparency  of  such  a  course  makes  the 
fact  of  decay  more  apparent.  Pious  misnomers  can- 
not put  away  facts.  When  typhoid  lights  its  fatal 
fire  in  the  blood  it  is  of  no  avail  to  insist  that  the 
patient  is  well.  The  fact  that  Sunday  is  doomed  is 
not  lessened  by  denial,  nor  averted  by  being  ignored. 
The  supreme  need  of  the  hour  is  less  of  cold  creed  and 
loose  indifferentism,  and  more  of  Christ-like  obedi- 
ence. We  need  less  of  dreaming  about  abstractions, 
and  more  readiness  to  do  the  will  of  God.  Men 
said  to  Christ :  "How  shall  we  know  that  what 
you  say  is  true  ?  "  His  answer :  Do  the  will  of  God. 
Men  have  lived  outside  of  the  Sabbath,  and  below  it, 
so  long,  that  spiritual  life  flows  faintly.  Popular 
appeals  to  emotion,  called  evangelism,  are  weak  and 
ephemeral,  because  little  of  the  grip  of  the  law  of 
God  is  in  them.  True  conversion  starts  with  the 
consciousness  of  sin  against  God.  Sin  is  more  than 
being  out  of  right  relations  with  an  airy  something 
called    humanity   and    progress.     To  the  same  list 


206  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

belong  the  claims  of  Sunday.  They  have  neither 
grasp  nor  grip.  A  gospel  of  salvation  without  the 
back-ground  of  law  is  as  meaningless  as  inviting 
hunger  to  sit  at  a  foodless  table.  The  calls  of  Sun- 
day to  Sabbath  Reform  are  as  mocking  as  a  lath 
thrown  to  a  drowning  inan.  From  the  days  of  Jus- 
tin until  now,  the  effort  to  destroy  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment has  been  prompted  solely  by  the  desire  to 
escape  the  claims  of  the  Sabbath.  Christians  do  not 
write  books  and  preach  sermons  to  prove  that  the 
commandment  against  adulter}^  is  abrogated.  Every 
man  desires  that  the  law  against  stealing  shall  be  in 
force,  as  to  his  neighbors  at  least.  But  centuries  of 
false  teachings  concerning  the  Sabbath  have  so  ener- 
vated conscience,  perverted  exegesis,  and  blinded 
judgment,  that  pulpits  resound  with  the  falsehood 
the  Sabbath  is  a  dead  figment  of  Judaism,  and  men 
are  free  from  its  claims.  And  now,  slain  b3^  their 
folly  and  error,  these  same  Christian  leaders  sink 
willingly  into  holidayism,  or  wail  in  wondering 
weakness  over  the  fact  that  they  must  reap  what 
they  and  their  ancestors  have  sown.  This  is  our 
message:  Come  hack  to  God  and  his  Sabbath,  and 
to  Christ  its  Lord. 

Remember  that  the  testimony  contained  in  the 
preceding  pages  is  wholly  from  the  friends  of  Sun- 
day. We  have  quoted  from  religious  authorities 
only.  We  make  no  case  against  Sunday  because  of 
what  its  enemies  say.  If  the  importance  of  Sabbath- 
observance  be  half  as  great  as  these  friends  of  Sunday 
say  it  is,  this  decay  of  regard  for  Sunday  carries  ruin 


RETURN  TO  GOD's  SABBATH.  207 

beyond  computation.  To  know  why  Sunday-  has 
deca^-ed  thus  must  compel  the  question  which  forms 
part  of  the  title  of  this  book  :  What  next  ?  Our  plan 
is  for  a  return  to  the  Sabbath  according  to  New  Tes- 
tament example  and  teaching.  This  would  bring 
Christians  into  harmony  with  the  example  of  Christ. 
He  discarded  nothing  except  the  false  burdens 
w^hich  degenerate  Judaism  had  placed  upon  the  Sab- 
bath. He  did  not  disobey  the  law  nor  change  the 
day. 

All  efforts  to  secure  regard  for  Sunday  as  a 
sacred  daj^  under  the  Fourth  Commandment  have 
failed.  The  Puritan  Sunday  had  everything  human 
in  its  favor.  Its  failure  is  the  greater  because  of  the 
opportunity  it  had  for  success.  No  new  facts  con- 
cerning Sunday  can  be  found  in  the  Bible.  Scheming 
for  new  theories  outside  the  Bible  does  no  more  than 
emphasize  the  imperative  necessity  of  returning  to 
the  Bible  and  the  Sabbath.  Thus  returning,  Protest- 
ants will  have  solid  ground  on  which  to  make  ap- 
peal to  conscience.  Custom  and  convenience  in  the 
matter  of  Sabbath-observance  are  grave-diggers. 
The  folk'  of  expecting  to  gain  any  permanent 
good  through  civil  law  is  shown  in  each  new 
effort  to  exalt  that  which  men  call  the  "Civil  Sab- 
bath." Religious  men  alone  will  regard  an^"  da}-  as 
Sabbath.  Holidayism,  through  civil  law  or  through 
personal  choice,  will  always  be  irreligious.  But, 
worst  of  all  is  the  death  of  the  sense  of  obligation, 
and  of  conscience,  which  the  popular  theories  taught 
by  Christians  produce.      The  church    is  committing 


208  DECADENCE   OF   SUNDAY. 

suicide  by  what  it  teaches.  Brethren,  if  you  still  re- 
fuse to  consider  the  claims  of  the  Sabbath  which 
Christ  honored  and  kept,  and  taught  us  how  to 
keep,  you  dishonor  him  and  his  authority.  To  his 
Sabbath  Protestants  must  return. 

This  is  the  requirement  of  the  law  of  God.  It  is 
the  commandment  of  Christ  b^'-  example.  It  is  the 
verdict  of  history.  It  is  the  hope  of  Protestantism. 
If  3^ou  are  indifferent,  you  will  discard  the  message. 
If  you  are  frivolous,  you  will  sneer  at  it.  If 
you  are  cowardh^  you  will  run  away  from 
it.  If  3^ou  are  weak,  you  will  stand  helpless 
before  it.  If  you  are  lo^^al  to  God  and  Christ,  you 
will  heed  and  obe}^,  whatever  it  may  cost.  What- 
ever you  do,  the  decay  of  Sunday  will  go  on. 
Wishes,  praj-ers,  and  protests  are  vain.  Sunday 
holidayism  has  the  road.  The  coach  is  crowded. 
Lawlessness  holds  the  reins.  No-Sabbathism  plies 
the  whip.  The  horses  are  mad.  The  precipice  is  near. 
What  will  you  do? 


NEWSPAPERS  QUOTED. 


Advance,  The.     23,  45,  48,  49,  51,  52,  83,  128,  134,  142,  143,  144. 
Advocate.  The  Christian    (New  York).     16,  17,  18,   19,  20,  21,  107. 

113,  114.  115,  116. 
Advocate,  Western  Christian.     17. 
American  Sabbath,  The.    126. 
American  Sentinel,     iii. 
Baptist  Messenger.     6. 
Catholic  Mirror.     153,  154,  155. 
Christian  Intelligencer.     66,  80,  81,  82,  84. 
Christian  Work.     75,  84. 
Christian  Reformer.     75. 
Christian  Union.     25.  28. 
Christian  Endeavorer.     123,  137,  139,  141. 
Christian  Secretary,  The.     5. 

Christian  Statesman.     57,  58,  59,  60,  68,  70,  71,  76,  122,  124,  125,  131. 
Congregationalist,  The.     26,  38,  40,  42,  44,  45,  47,  129. 
Congregational  Record.     41. 
Church  Bulletin.     113. 
Defender,  The.     129,  137,  143. 
Diocesan  Work.     93. 
Evangel  and  vSabbath  Outlook.     73,  112. 
Epworthian,  The.     112. 
Episcopal  Recorder.     95. 
Examiner,  The.     3,  7,  8. 
Golden  Rule,  The.     71,  190. 
Herald,  The  New  York.     9. 
Herald,  Epworth  League.     108. 
Independent,  The  New  York.     37,  86,  89, 
Iowa  State  Register.     144. 
Interior,  The.     69,  71.  81,  82,  108,  no,  126. 
Journal  of  Commerce.     66. 
Methodist  Review.     20. 
National  Baptist.     7,  9. 


210  NEWSPAPERS  QUOTED. 

National  Advocate  of  Holiness.     109. 

Observer,  The  (New  York).     59,  62,  132,  133. 

Outlook,  The.     96. 

Pacific  Christian  Endeavorer.     140. 

PeailofDays.     135. 

Sabbath  Recorder.     90. 

Standard,  The.     2,  3. 

Saint  Mark's  Messenger.     95. 

Times-Herald.     189. 

Watchman,  The.     11,  135. 

Watch  Tower.     5. 

Weeklj'  Witness.     157. 

BOOKS  QUOTED. 

"  The  Lord's  Day."     A.  E.  Waffles,  D.  D.     146. 
**  Day  of  Rest."    James  Stacey,  D.  D.     147. 
"  Letters  of  Senex,"  etc.     153. 
"  Our  Christian  Heritage."     153. 


GENERAL  INDEX. 


A 

Abrogation,  Christians  seek  this  of  the  Fourth  Commandment  only, 
206. 

Adams,  Rev.  George  C,  describes  vSunday-deseoation  in  St.  Louis,  42. 

America,  becoming  worse  than  Europe  as  to  Sunday,  77. 

American  Sabbath,  it  is  "lost  "  in  the  United  States;  its  decay  is  in- 
evitable, 53,  54. 

American  Sabbath  Union,  is  not  sustained  by  Christians;  Annual  Meet- 
ings of  in  1897;  a  member  distributes  secular  advertisements  at 
Sunday  evening  service,  84,  iii. 

Anti -Judaism,  sprung  from  gnostic  philosophy  concerning  Jehovah, 
165. 

Apathy,  Christians  are  guilty  of,  77,  137,  138. 

Apalling,  the  extent  of  Sunday-desecration,  95. 

Assembly,  Presbyterian,  of  Tennessee  reports  decline  of  regard  for 
Sunday,  79. 

Attendance  at  church,  declines  with  loss  of  regard  for  Sunday,  107. 

Augsburg  Confession,  a  no-Sabbath  document,  177. 

Awakening,  greatly  needed  among  Christians,  to  save  Sunday,  95. 

B 

Bacon,  Rev.  L.  W.,  declares  that  Sunday,  as  a  Sabbath,  is  lost,  53. 

Baptist  Congress,'  discusses  the  Sunday  question,  12. 

Baptist  Convention,  of  New  York,  warns  Baptists  against  Sunday- 
desecration,  5. 

Baptist  Doctrine,  requires  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  rather  than 
Sunday,  2. 

Baptist  Preachers,  disagree  widely  as  to  reasons  for  observing  Sun- 
day, 6. 

Baseball,  playing  of,  on  Sunday,  denounced,  75. 

Bible,  the  only  true  basis  for  Sabbath  Reform,  74;  the  authority  of,  in- 
volved in  the  S  ibbath  question,  105;  is  against  Sunday-observance, 
155;  is  the  ultimate  and  supreme  standard  of  Sabbath  Reform,  203. 


212  GENERAL   IiNDEX. 

Bicycle,  leads  to  Sunda5'-desecration,  44;  use  of,  on  Sunda}-,  severely 
condemned,  80. 

Bishops,  the  Methodist,  ought  to  stop  camp-meetings  from  joining  in 
Sunday-desecration,  no. 

Blanchard,  Rev.  A.,  condemns  Christians  for  leading  in  vSunday-dese- 
cration,  123. 

Blaine,  Hon.  J.  G.,  traveled  on  Sundaj^,  119;  would  not  make  political 
speeches  on  Sunday,  119. 

Boston,  Continental  Sunday  abounds  there,  2;  100,000  people  at  sea- 
shore there,  on  Sunday,  53;  Sunday  trains  in,  first  petitioned  for  by 
Christians,  192. 

Breaking  down  of  Sunday,  shown  on  all  lines  of  behavior  by  Chris- 
tians, 120. 

Burdette,  Robert  J.,  describes  Sunday  in  the  West,  7. 

Bureau  of  Statistics,  report  on  Sunday  labor  in  Massachusetts, 27-35; 
publication  of  report  created  great  sensation,  28;  showed  immense 
amount  of  desecration  ofvSunday,  28. 

Business,  increasing  amount  of,  done  on  Sunda3%  19;  cessation  from,  is 
not  Sabbath-keeping,  197. 

C 

California,  has  no  Sunday  law  since  1883,  6i;"vSabbath  Association" 
of,  condemns  Christians  for  desecrating  vSunday,  131. 

Camp-Meetings,  proiuote  disregard  for  Sunday,  58,  107,  108. 

Carelessness,  Christians  are  guilty  of,  in  connection  with   Sunday,  138, 

139- 

Carman,  Rev.  A.  vS.,  declares  there  is  no  authority  for  Sunday  in  the 
New  Testament,  12. 

C.  E.  vSocieties,  apathetic  in  regard  to  vSunday-desecration,  138;  of  Cali- 
fornia, very  inactive  in  Sunday  Reform,  140. 

C.  E.  Delegates,  desecrate  vSunday  by  sight  seeing  in  Rocky  Mountains, 
141;  favor  vSunday-observance  in  theor}',  but  oppose  it  in  practice, 
142. 

"  Change  of  Sabbath,"  theory  unknown  previous  to  1595  A.  D.,  181-183. 

Charges,  serious  ones  made  by  Christians  against  each  other,  149. 

Christ,  established  the  "  Christian  "  vSabbath,  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  God,  195;  his  example  must  be  taken  as  the  standard  in 
Sibbath  Reform,  195;  Christians  disregard  that  example,  196. 

Christians,  are  unable  to  check  desecration  of  Sunday,  3;  approve  Sun- 
day concerts,  7;  encourage  desecration  of  vSunday  by  example,  21, 
22;  asked  for  Sunday  trains  in  Massachusetts,  33;  first  to  ask  for 
street  cars  on  Sunday  in  Boston,  31 ;  lack  conscience  on  the  Sabbath 


GENERAL   IxNDEX.  213 

question,  44;  could  save  Sunday  if  united  in  its  defense,  62;  are 
criminally  indifferent  as  to  decay  of  Sunday,  66;  sent  few  petitions 
to  Congress  against  opening  of  the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday,  68; 
were  responsible  for  the  opening  of  the  World's  Fair  on  Sunday,  69; 
are  unable  to  secure  the  better  observance  of  Sunday,  104;  are  being 
carried  down  by  disregard  for  Sunday,  107;  cannot  oppose  Sunday- 
desecration  consistently,  121 ;  must  cease  from  Sunday-desecration 
or  be  ruined,  135,  136;  are  not  united  nor  earnest  in  defending  Sun- 
day, 137;  are  primarily  responsible  for  decay  of  regard  for  Sunday, 
147,  148. 

Christian  Advocate,  declares  that  Sunday  is  lost,  20. 

Christian  Endeavorer,  says  that  3,000,000  people  in  the  United  States 
labor  on  every  Sunday,  and  that  church  members  do  not  care  for 
this,  83. 

Christianity,  is  everywhere  endangered  by  loss  of  regard  for  Sunday, 
q6;  is  weakened  dangerously  by  no-Sabbathism,  161 ;  corrupted  by 
Pagan  philosophy,  165. 

Chicago,  much  given  to  disregarding  Sunday,  26,  27;  Sunday-observ- 
ance in,  of  a  low  grade,  48;  Mayor  of,  leads  6,000  cyclers  on  a  Sun- 
day parade,  49. 

Church  attendance,  slight  on  vSunday,  58:  is  given  up  for  pleasure,  63; 
declining  in  both  country  and  city,  97;  neglect  of,  not  generally 
condemned,  formerly  sustained  by  law  and  social  custom,  99. 

Church  members,  undermine  Sunday-observance  by  bad  examples,  79; 
patronize  stores  for  sale  of  goods  on  Sunday,  116;  disregard  for  Sun- 
day among,  is  rapidly  increasing,  122. 

Churches,  will  be  destroyed  if  vSabbath-observance  is  destroyed,  79. 

Cigars,  sale  of,  on  Sunday  a  legal  "  necessity,"  46. 

Civil  law,  applied  to  Sunday  creates  a  holiday,  205. 

"Civil  Sabbath,"  no  more  possible  than  a  "civil"  baptism,  or  a 
"  civil  "  Lord's  Supper,  203. 

Clarke,  Rev.  Dr.  Rufus,  says  Christians  support  Sunday  newspapers, 
61. 

Clergymen,  are  accustomed  to  travel  on  Sunday,  59;  ought  not  to  pat" 
ronize  or  preach  at  Sunday-breaking  camp-meetings,  116. 

Columbian  Exposition,  Act  of  Congress  closing  it,  could  not  be  gained 
without  aid  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  161. 

Conference,  the  M.  E.  of  New  England,  15;  it  mourns  the  loss  of  regard 
for  Sunday,  16. 

Congregationalist,  The,  says  that  Sunday  is  regarded  less  sacredly 
each  year,  44. 


214  GENERAL   INDEX. 

Congregationalists, active  in  agitating  Sunday  question  in  New  England, 
25;  declare  that  Sunday  is  losing,  or  is  lost,  49;  acknowledge  that 
Sunday-observance  has  no  basis  in  the  Bible,  186-189. 

Congregationalist  Clergymen,  advice  of,  destroys  regard  for  Sundaj% 
189. 

Conscience,  Christians  have  little  relative  to  vSunday.  15,  66;  less  con- 
cerning the  Fourth  Commandment  than  concerning  any  other,  52; 
Christians  have  "  nebulous  "  ones,  64. 

Constantine,  his  first  Sunday  law  quoted,  172. 

Contradictions,  of  Protestants  are  glaring  as  to  the  Bible  and  Sunday, 
154- 

"  Continental  "  Sunday,  is  fostered  by  Christians  in  the  United  States, 
62;  has  taken  the  place  ot  the  "  Puritan  "  in  the  United  States,  81 ; 
is  based  on  no-Sabbathism  and  church  authority.  178;  is  1,200  years 
old,  191. 

Continental  Reformers,  were  extreme  no-Sabbathists,  177. 

Crafts,  Rev.  W.  F.,  saj^s  that  New  England  is  going  to  destruction  by 
disregarding  Sunday,  71;  denounces  the  indifference  of  Christians 
as  to  loss  of  Sunday,  124;  says  not  one-half  of  "  Sabbath  Associa- 
tions "  petitioned  Congress  for  closing  World's  Fair  on  .Sunday, 
125. 

Cuyler,  Rev.  Theo.  I,.,  mourns  over  lack  of  conscience  concerning 
Sunday,  75,  76;  describes  the  deplorable  decline  of  regard  for  Sun- 
day in  the  United  States,  86. 

Cox,  Rev.  Dr. ,  says  that  the  friends  of  Sunday  are  apathetic,  20. 

D 

Danger,  to  Sunday  greatly  increased  because  of  lack  of  conscience  on 
the  part  of  Christians,  114,  115. 

Darkness,  as  to  the  future  of  Sunday  constantly  increasing,  66,  67. 

Davison,  Rev.  J.  B.,  complains  of  the  indifference  of  Christians  as  to 
Sunday  in  Wisconsin,  139. 

Deacon    Pugh,    advertises   for  a  "  lost  conscience  "  touching  vSundaj', 

143- 

Decay  of  .Sunday,  reasons  for,  163-174;  inevitable,  164. 

Defense  of  Sunday,  no  adequate,  made  by  Christians,  135,  136. 

Delaware  (N.  Y. ),  Presbytery  of,  warns  against  Sunday  decay,  58. 

Desecration  of  Sunday, increasing  in  New  Jersey, 79;  a  carnival  of  in  1895, 
80,81;  generally  increasing,  80;  great  in  Pennsylvania  in  spite  of 
law,  81 ;  would  cease  in  a  large  degree  except  for  example  of  Chris- 
tians, 201. 

Des  Moines,  Sunday  Reform  Convention  at,  lightly  attended,  143,  144. 


GENERAL  INDEX.  215 

Desplains  Camp-Meeting  Association,  received  thirtj-  per  cent  of  fares 
for  railroad  tickets  sold  on  Sunday,  io8. 

Disregard,  for  Sunday  by  Christians  is   unconcealed,  148;  greater  now 
than  for  centuries  past,  102. 

Dissipation,  is  taking  the  place  of  rest  on  Sunday,  95. 

E 

Elements  of  decaj'.  three  prominent  ones  in  the  Puritan  Sunday,  183. 

Elmendorf,  Rev.  Dr.,  says  that  Christians  are  indifferent  as  to  the  sal- 
vation of  Sunday,  84. 

England,  Church  of,  not  favorable  to  the  Puritan  Sunday,  93;   Sabbath 
question  in,  during  the  Reformation,  179. 

Episcopalian  testimony,  declares  the  serious  decline  of  regard  for  Sun- 
day, 93. 

Epworthian,  The,  advertised  vSunday  railroad  trains  at  Sunday  evening 
services,  112. 

Europeans,  are   not  the   chief  sinners  in   disregarding  Sunday  in  the 
United  States,  3. 

Evarts,  Rev.  W.  W.,  says  that  vSunday  is  being  destroyed   by   Chris- 
tians, 13. 

Evil  results,  many  and  grave  ones  are  here   through   decline  of  regard 
for  Sundav,  148. 

F 

Failure,  of  Sunday  openly  conceded  by  its  friends,  204. 

Foreboding  of  evil,  much  in   connection  with   the  decay  of  regard  for 
Sunday,  194. 

Foster,    Rev.    A.    P.,    describes    "Sabbath-breaking"    in    Massachu- 
setts, 43. 

Foster,  Rev.  J.  M.,  asks  for  a  law  to  prevent  Christians   from   traveling 
on  Sunday,  65. 

Fourth  Commandment,  Christians  do  not  believe  in  it,  88. 

Fowler  Epworth  League,  advertised  "  Monon  Route  "  Railroad,  which 
run  Sunday  trains,  112. 

G 

Gambrinus,  is  king  in  Cincinnati,  on  Sunday,  17. 

Gibbons,  Cardinal,  declares  that  Protestantism  is  already  a  vanquished 

foe,  159. 
Gladden,  Rev.  Washington,    says  the   neglected  Sunday  question  is  a 

burning  one,  41. 
God's  Law,  offers  the  only  basis  for  successful  Sabbath  Reform,  200. 
God's  Sabbath,  a  return  to,  is  the  only  way  to  genuine  vSabbath  Reform, 

201. 


216  GENERAL  INDEX. 

Gospel,  the,  is  meaningless,  if  the  law  is  abolished,  206. 

Ground,  new  and  higher,  must  be  taken  if  true  Sabbath  Reform  is  ever 

attained,  194. 

H 
Half-truths,  often  become  essential  falsehoods,  ig8. 
Hathaway,  Rev.  J.  W.,  says   that  Sunday  is  more  "  wheelman's  "  day 

than  "  Lord's  "  day,  84;  says  that  disregard  for  Sunday  has  increased 

greatly  within  ten  years,  88. 
Heaven,  the  true  vSabbath  is  type   and  prophecy  of,    200;   festivals  and 

civil  holidays  cannot  represent  it,  200. 
Help  for  Sunday,  there  is  none;  men   must  return   to   God's   Sabbath, 

149. 
Heredity,  by  the  law  of,  Sunday  must  decay,  164. 
Hessey,  Rev.  Augustus,  describes  the  no-Sabbathismof  the  Continental 

reformers,  177. 
History,  verdict  of,  compels  the  abandoning  of  Sunday  and  a  return  to 

the  Sabbath,  206. 
Hobart,  Rev.  A.  S.,  declares  that  Sunday-observance  is  not  Biblical,  13. 
Hodges,  Dean,  favors  Sunday  papers,  and  writes  for  them,  128. 
Holiness  Association,  received  Si, 800  as  its  share  of  railroad  fares  on 

Sunday,  108. 
Hoyt,  Rev.  Dr.  Wayland,  denounces  weak  efforts  at  Sunday  Reform  b}^ 

making  speeches  and  passing  resolutions,  60,  61. 
Hubbard,  Rev.  Geo.  H.,  says  that  Christians  lead  the  way  in   Sundaj-- 

desecration,  129. 

I 
Ice  cream,  sale  of  on  Sunday,  a  "necessity,"  45. 
Ignored,  the  Decalogue  is,  by  theories  concerning  Sunday,  204. 
Inland  cities,  vSunday-observance  in,  greatly  decayed,  81,  82. 
Iowa  "  Sabbath  "  Convention,  slightlj^  attended  by  Christian   people, 

144. 
Important,  facts  touching  Sunday  put   forth  by  Roman  Catholics,  152. 
Irreligious  people,  will  not  observe  any  day  as  Sabbath,  21. 
Issues  in  Sunday-observance,  are  of  paramount  interest,  146. 

J 

Jehovah,  held  to  be  an  inferior  God  by  Gnostics,  165,  166. 

"Jewish  "  vSabbath,  prejudice  against,  first  created  by  Pagans,  196;  we 
do  not  ask  for  a  return  to  it,  204. 

Joseph  Cook,  Rev.,  says  that  Sunday  and  the  Republic  stand  or  fall  to- 
gether, 35,  36. 


GENERAL   INDEX.  217 

Justin  Martyr,  was  the  first  teacher  of  no-Sabbathism,  i66,  167;  was  first 
to  give  reasons  for  regarding  Sunday,  168;  his  reasons  for  holding 
services  on  Sunday  were  anti-Biblical,  168. 

Iv 

I^abor,  3,000,000  people  in  the  United  States  engaged  in,  every  Sun- 
day, 123. 

Layton,  Rev.  W.  A.,  says  Christians  help  to  destroy  Sunday  bj^  patron- 
izing Sunday  papers,  127. 

L,aw,  civil,  is  useless  if  divine  is  ignored,  67;  is  powerless  to  check 
Sunday-desecration,  116. 

Ivaw-makers,  lead  in  desecrating  Sunday,  82,  83. 

Legislators,  amend  Sunday  laws  in  the  interest  of  holidayism,  76. 

Leiper,  Rev.  J.  H.,  reports  8,000  places  of  business  open  on  Sunday  in 
Philadelphia,  80. 

"  Lex,"  charges  Christians  with  destroying  regard  for  Sunday,  61,  62. 

Liberalism,  growth  of,  in  Massachusetts,  touching  Sunday,  40. 

Lord's-day,  worship  on,  an  essential  feature  of  Christianity,  96;  term 
not   used   in   civil   law  as   equivalent   for   Sunday  until   396  A.  D., 

173.  174- 

Loss  of  Sundaj',  Christians  are  mainly  responsible  for,  106. 

Low  ground  arguments,  sought  for  Sunday,  because  no  Biblical  argu- 
ments for,  3. 

Lukewarmness,  as  to  Sunday,  prevalent  in  Iowa,  144. 

Lynn,  Mass.,  great  desecration  of  Sunday  in,  2. 

M 

Massachusetts,  250  illegal  railroad  trains  on  Sunday,  5,  6;  legalizes 
many  kinds  of  business  on  Sunday,  42,  44;  Congregational  Conven- 
tion of,  rejects  resolutions  on  Sunday-observance,  129. 

MacArthur,  Rev.  R.  vS.,  denounces  foreigners  as  desecrators  of  Sunday, 
does  not  appeal  to  Bible  in  support  of  Sunday,  4. 

McConnell,  Rev.  S.  D,,  writes  a  Philippic  against  Sundaj'-desecration, 
96,  97. 

Methodists,  some  of,  have  spoken  much  against  desecration  of  Sunday, 
15;  are  charged  with  joining  in  desecration  for  money,  15,  112. 

Methodism,  is  disgraced  through  complicit}'  with  desecration  of  Sun- 
day, 108,  109. 

"  Methodist  Minister,"  a,  charges  a  Camp-meeting  Association  with 
sharing  in  railroad  earnings  on  Sunday,  108,  109. 

Ministers,  Christian,  use  Sunday  trains  freely,  120,  121. 


218  GENERAL   INDEX. 

Moody,  D.  Iv.,  declaims  against  disreg^ard  for  Sunday  in  Chicago,  134; 
advises  people  to  observe  some  other  day,  if  not  convenient  to  ob- 
serve Sunday,  igo,  191;  teaches  that  God's  law  should  yield  to 
man's  convenience,  190. 

"  Monon  Route  "  railroad  runs  Sunday  trains,  and  advertises  in  paper 
of  the  Fowler  Epworth  League  of  Chicago,  112. 

Mott,  Rev.  Geo.  vS.,  declares  that  vSunday  desecration  increases  in  New 
Jersey,  61,  62. 

Museums,  opening  of,  on  Sunday  condemned,  132. 

Myers,  Rev.  A.  E.,  announces  the  hopeless  decay  of  regard  for  Sun- 
day, 83. 

N 

Nation,  the,  imperilled  through  disregard  for  Sunday,  20,  21. 
National  Reform  Association  urges  pushing  Sunday  into  politics,  63.  64. 
Neale,  E.  V.,  shows  Pagan  origin  of  vSunday  legislation,  173. 
New  England  leading  in   Sunday-desecration,  2,  63;  losing  conscience 

in  regard  to  Sunday,  87. 
New  York   City,  church   attendance   in,    at   low   ebb,   97;  one   million 

pleasure-seekers  go  from,  on  Sundays,  loi. 
Newspapers,  few  Christians  oppose  the  Sunday  issue  of,  128. 
Nicholas   Bownde,   author   of  "Puritan   vSunday"  theorj^  181 ;  quoted 

from,  182. 
Ninde,  Bishop,  sharp  words  of,  concerning  desecration  of  Sundaj',  21. 
Noble,  Rev.  F.  A.,  describes  decay  of  Sunday  in  Chicago,  48. 
Non-church-goers,  number  of,  is  steadily  increasing,  97. 
No-vSabbathism  is  increasing,  59;  is  a  Roman  Catholic  doctrine,  151,  152; 

was  created  by  Pagan  philosophy,  166,  167. 

O 
Obedience  is  the  way  to  higher  knowledge  of  truth,  205;   to  the   Fourth 

Commandment  will  come  when  men  have  conscience   toward  God, 

206. 
Observing  Sunday,  reasons  for,  are   numerous   and   contradictory,  185, 

186. 
Old  Testament,  opposition  to,  sprang  from  Gnostic  philosophy,  166. 
"  Orthodox  "  Christians  are  not  conscientious  as  to  observance  of  Sun- 
day, 133. 

P 

Pagan  Philosophy,  was  a  prominent  factor  in  driving  the  Sabbath  from 

the  Christian  church,  195. 
Parkhurst,  Rev.  C.  H.,  did  not  injure  .Sunday  by  telling  the  truth  about 

it,  60. 


GKNERAL   INDEX.  219 

Passing  of  Sunday,  shown,  8i,  82. 

Past  and  present,  contrasted  as  to  the  observance  of  Sunday,  100,  loi. 

Payne,  Rev.  C.  H.,  said  the  loss  of  Sunday  is  the  loss  of  the  nation,  16. 

Peril,  much,  from  loss  of  regard  for  Sunday,  94,  95. 

Physical  rest,  is  the  least  important  part  of  true  Sabbath-observance, 
197,  198;  promotes  holidayism  if  made  compulsory,  without  con- 
science, 198. 

Pittsburg,  Pa.,  Sunday  greatly  desecrated  there,  75;  Synod  of,  con- 
demns Christians  for  buying  Sunday  papers,  134. 

Pleasure   seeking,  greatly  increased   on   Sunday  within  ten   years,  100, 

lOI. 

Pleasure  seekers,  350,000,  go  out  of  New  York  City  on  Sunday,  83,  84. 

Preachers,  travel  on  Sunday,  114;  condemned  for  so  doing,  125;  defend 
Sunday  in  theory,  but  destroy  it  by  practice,  137,  138. 

Presbyterians,  hold  the  Puritan  view  concerning  Sunday,  57;  much 
said  by  them  concerning  the  decay  of  Sunday-observance,  58;  elders 
of,  need  a  vSunday  law,  65;  were  active  in  seeking  to  close  the 
World's  Fair  on  Sunday,  67. 

Present  evils,  they  promise  many  more  in  connection  with  Sunday,  193. 

President,  of  the  United  vStates  condemned  for  traveling  on  Sundaj', 
59,  60. 

Prize  Banner,  C.  E.  vSocieties  did  not  labor  for,  in  connection  with  Sun- 
day Reform  work,  139. 

Protests,  against  Sunday-desecration  grow  feebler  each  year,  146,  147. 

Protestants,  are  losing  ground  in  the  United  States,  157;  are  losing  faith 
in  the  Bible  as  Supreme  guide,  157;  condemn  Roman  Catholics  in- 
consistently, 27;  duty  of,  in  connection  with  Sabbath  Reform,  92; 
are  essentially  Roman  Catholics  on  the  Sabbath  question,  160;  do 
not  follow  the  Bible  in  keeping  Sundaj'^,  154;  have  been  self  contra- 
dictory for  300  years,  155;  cannot  escape  the  weakness  of  inconsist- 
ency on  the  Sabbath  question,  156;  must  return  to  the  Bible  as 
standard  of  practice,  157;  are  disintegrating  on  the  Sabbath  ques- 
tion, 158;  are  eager  for  the  help  of  Roman  Catholics  in  enforcing 
Sundaj'  laws,  161 ;  are  powerless  to  arrest  disregared  for  Sunday,  184, 
204. 

Pulpits,  are  silent  concerning  the  decay  of  regard  for  Sunday,  18,  88. 

Puritans,  in  England,  came  nearly  to  the  Seventh-day  Baptist  position, 
179. 

Puritan  Sunday,  was  unscriptural  and  unhistoric,  100;  its  claims  per- 
vert the  plain  teaching  of  the  Bible,  106;  reasons  for  its  decay,  176,183; 
based  on  a  compromise,  182;  first  announced  in    1595,  A.  D.,  181;  its 


220  GENERAL   INDEX. 

friends  have  lost  faith  in  it,  185;  inherently  weak  because  of  a  half- 
way compromise,  191 ;  retained  the  Pagan  idea  of  a  "civil  Sabbath," 
202. 

Tublic  opinion,  no  longer  compels  regard  for  Sunday,  103,  104. 

Public  worship,  is  secure  only  through  a  holy  day,  196. 

Pugh,  Deacon,  charges  C.  E.  delegates  with  desecrating  Sunday,  142. 

Q 

"  Quandarj^"  satire  of,  in  the  Examiner,  S. 

R 

Railroad,  earnings  of,  on  Sunday  used  for  support  of  Desplaines  Camp- 
Meeting  Association,  109. 

Rapid  decline  of  regard  for  Sunday,  1. 

Reasons  for  holding  service  on  Sunday  first  given  by  Justin  Martyr,  168. 

Reforms  center  around  some  one  leading  idea,  176. 

Revolution,  a  great  one  has  come  in  Sunday-obsetvance,  100. 

Rippere,  Rev.  John,  says  the  church  should  oppose  Sundaj'  News- 
papers, 127. 

Roman  Catholics  are  least  affected  by  loss  of  regard  for  Sunday,  97;  are 
a  potent  factor  in  the  Sunday  question,  151;  are  shrewdly  drawing 
Protestants  to  their  position,  152;  are  more  consistent  than  Prot- 
estants on  the  Sabbath  question,  159,  160;  are  well  satisfied  with  the 
vSunday  question  in  the  United  States,  161 ;  quietly  rejoice  in  the 
failure  of  the  "Puritan  vSunday,"  205. 

S 

Sabbath,  the,  rejection  of  destroys  all  basis  for  Sabbath-keeping  in  con- 
nection with  any  day,  67;  prevents  regard  ior  Sunday,  106;  it  is 
God's  special  representative  in  time,  196;  forward  look  of  199;  is 
the  promise  of  glorified  rest  hereafter,  200;  returning  to,  will  give  a 
basis  for  conscience,  203. 

Sabbathism,  all,  will  be  lost  unless  Christians  abandon  Sunday  and  re- 
turn to  the  Sabbath,  92;  has  decayed  through  error  concerning  the 
Sabbath  and  the  Sunday,  202;  203. 

"  Sabbath-desecration,"  fearful  in  amount  of,  in  the  United  States,  147. 

Sabbath-observance,  it  is  the  product  of  religion  only,  203. 

"Sabbath  tradition,"  is  passing  out  of  sight,  so  tar  as  Sunda\' is  con- 
cerned, TOO. 

Sabbath-keepers  are  the  only  consistent  Protestants,  156. 

Sabbath-keeping  is  a  celebration  in  honor  of  God's  presence,  197;  it  cul- 
tivates true  spiritual  life  in  a  high  degree,  198. 


GEXERAI-   INDEX.  221 

Sabbath  Reform,  not  gained  by  making  speeches  and  passing  resolu- 
tions; 6i;  is  a  vital  question  and  yet  unsettled,  149;  must  be  revolu- 
tionary if  it  is  effective,  194;  can  never  be  gained  in  connection  with 
Sunday,  195. 

Sabbath  question,  treatment  of,  by  Roman  Catholics,  152;  not  made 
prominent  in  the  Lutheran  Reformation,  177. 

Sailliens,  Rev.  R.,  shows  how  Protestant  faith  in  the  Bible  is  declin- 
ing-, 157- 

Saloons  rejoice  in  desecration  of  vSundaj',  51;  commend  the  cry  that 
"  Saturday  is  Jewish,"  51;  are  not  so  great  an  evil  as  desecration  of 
Sunday  is,  130. 

Salvation  Army  conducts  Sundaj'-breaking  camp-meeting,  115. 

Salvation  of  Sunday  is  unsettled,  146. 

San  Francisco,  Christian  Endeavor  delegates  to  Convention  at,  traveled 
on  Sunday,  141. 

Satire,  Deacon  Pugh  indulges  in,  concerning  desecration  of  Sunday  by 
Christians,  142;  cutting,  from  Dr.  Wayland,  concerning  Sunday 
laws,  9-12. 

Self-defeat,  accomplished  by  Protestants  in  keeping  Sunday,  159. 

Seventh-day  Baptists  were  a  strong  factor  in  the  English  Reformation, 
180;  demanded  a  complete  Protestantism,  181. 

Shoe-.strings.  satire  concerning  crime  of  selling  on  Sunday,  9-1 1. 

Situation,  gravity  of,  as  related  to  Sunday  cannot  be  overestimated, 
102. 

Spiritual  Life  is  enriched  and  exalted  by  true  Sabbath- observance,  200, 
201;  is  enervated  and  destroj'ed  by  rejecting  the  Sabbath,  201,  202. 

Sporting  prevails  in  Boston  on  Sunday,  42. 

Stall,  Rev.  Sylvanus,  condemns  Methodists  for  Sunday-desecration, 
no. 

Statesman,  The  Christian,  charges  Dr.  Parkhurst  with  weakening  pub- 
lic regard  for  Sundaj-,  60. 

St.  Louis  famed  for  wickedness  on  Sunday,  42,  95. 

Sun-worship  brought  into  Roman  Empire  and  into  Christianity  from 
Egypt  and  the  Orient,  165. 

Sunday,  eclipse  of,  7-  observance  of,  a  momentous  issue,  15;  desecra- 
tion gains  every  year,  16,  17;  is  made  a  holidaj'  by  inheritance,  23; 
must  be  a  holiday  or  a  holy  day,  23;  is  no  longer  held  sacred  in  Bos- 
ton, 35;  desecration  rapidly  increasing,  58;  is  widely  disregarded, 
69,  70;  entire  loss  of,  is  imminent,  70,  71;  is  demoralized  and  assailed 
on  all  sides,  76;  false  claims  concerning,  promote  its  decay,  90;  can 
be  saved  only  when  Christians  awake,  145;   its  observance    is   non- 


222  GENERAL   INDEX. 

Protestant,  154;  has  been  supported  by  civil  law  for  centuries,  163; 
decays  year  by  year  in  spite  of  civil  law,  164;  regard  for,  began  in 
Pagan  nature- worship,  165;  has  been  a  semi-holiday  for  thirteen 
centuries,  174. 

Sunday-breaking  Christians  are  the  greatest  foes  to  vSunday-observance, 
126. 

Sunday-desecration,  great  increase  of,  in  New  England,  45;  is  a  grow- 
ing sin,  95. 

Sunday  Labor,  does  not  decrease  wages  nor  physical  health,  33,  34:  con- 
tinues because  Christians  wish  to  have  it,  123. 

Sunday  law  helps  the  saloons  by  enforcing  leisure,  18;  decay  of,  in 
Massachusetts,  36,  39, ;  does  not  enforce  religious  regard,  37;  legal- 
izes many  forms  of  business  in  Masssachusetts,  43;  powerless  to 
save  Sunday  from  desecration,  44;  unenforced,  promotes  evil,  48; 
earlier  laws  deemed  too  religious,  55;  could  be  enforced  if  Chris- 
tians were  more  consistent,  139;  began  as  a  part  of  the  Pagan  state- 
church  system,  152;  was  wholly  Pagan  at  first,  172;  fosters  dissipa- 
tion by  enforcing  leisure  on  the  irreligious,  192;  must  be  discarded 
as  a  means  of  "  Sabbath  Reform,"  201. 

Sunday  papers  hasten  the  loss  of  regard  for  Sunday,  44;  secure  the  sup- 
port of  Christian  ministers,  47,  48. 

Sunday  Rest,  Roman  Catholics  were  prominent  in  the  Congress  of,  at 
Chicago,  73,  153. 

Sunday  trains,  began  to  run  in  Massachusetts  in  1836  A.  D.,  28;  greatly 
increased  after  i860  A.  D.,  29;  for  church-going  led  the  way,  29; 
were  held  to  be  unlawful,  30;  soundly  denounced,  38;  sustained  by 
Christians,  116. 

Sunday  travel,  great  amount  of,  in  Massachusetts, 31,  33. 

Support,  no  common  ground  for  Sunday-observance,  138. 

Superintendent  of  a  Sunday-school  sells  goods  on  Sunday,  114. 

Synod  of  New  Jersey  reports  serious  obstacles  to  Sunday-observance  in 
that  state,  79. 

T 

Talmage,  Rev,  T.  D.,  is  charged  with  promoting  desecration  of  Sun- 
day, 85. 

Teachers,  Christian,  not  agreed  as  to  how  vSunday  can  be  sustained,  146, 
147. 

Temple,  Rev.  L.  D.,  says  that  Sunday-observance  rests  on  "tradi- 
tion," 13. 

Tertullian,  shows  that  .Sunday  was  "  a  day  of  indulgence  for  the  flesh, 
170. 


GENERAL   INDEX.  223 

Tuttle,  Rev.  W.  G.,  says  Sunday  is  endangered  by  relaxed  Christianity', 

145- 

U 

Unanswered  question,  how  can  the  church  adjust  itself  to  the  decay  of 

regard  for  Sunday?  104. 
Union  of  Christians,  not  possible  in  defense  of  Sunday,  77,  78 
University,  a  Christian,  contractors  labor  on  its  building  on  Sunday,  48. 
Universal  Sabbathism,  belongs  to  the  next  life,  199. 

V 
Vincent,  Bishop  John,  declares  that  no  particular  day  need  be  observed 
as  Sabbath,  190. 

W 

War,  the  civil,  promoted  loss  of  regard  for  Sunday,  54. 

Wayland,  Rev.  Dr.,  his  sarcasm  concerning  Sunday  laws,  9. 

Watchman,  The,  charges  the  blame  for  Sunday-desecration  on  Chris- 
tians, 135. 

Weakness,  of  Christians  the  main  cause  of  the  decay  of  Sunday,  131. 

Westminster  Chatechism.  unscriptural  as  to  Sunday,  54. 

Wilkinson,  Prof.  W.  C,  announces  the  fatal  decay  of  Sunday,  118-121; 
avoids  discussion  of  the  "  Sabbath  "  question,  118;  says  Sunda}-- 
observance  is  a  fond,  but  passing,  "superstition,"  119;  it  is  a 
"  pious  fiction,"  120;  it  cannot  continue,  120,  loss  of  is  not  deeply 
regretted  by  Christians,  120,  i2t;  they  prefer  to  take  Sunda}'  trains, 
when  convenient,  121 ;  preachers  set  the  example,  121;  Sunday-ob- 
servance must  revive  or  its  doom  is  near,  121. 

Wishes,  will  not  save  Sunday  from  decay,  207. 

Worship,  in  Chicago,  disturbed  by  Sunday  parade,  50. 

World's  Fair,  agitation  concerning  closing  of.  on  vSunday  was  super- 
ficial, 72,  73. 

Worldliness,  leads  to  disregard  for  Sunday  by  Christians,  86,  87. 

Woods,  Rev.  John,  declares  the  gradual  decay  of  Sunday,  71. 

Wright,  Carrol  D.,  Commissioner,  reports  on  Sunday  labor  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 27-36. 

Wrong-doing,  disregard  for  Sunday  not  considered  to  be,  102. 


Books  Concerning  the  Sabbath, 

PUBLISHED  AND  FOR  SALE  BY 

The  American  Sabbath  Tract  Society, 

PLAINFIELD,  N.  J. 


THE  SEVENTH-DAY  BAPTIST  HAND  BOOK. 

A  brief  statement  of  the  history,  polity,  work  and  purposes  of  the 
Seventh-day  Baptists,  pp.  48.  JNTuslin,  25  cents.  Paper,  10  cents. 

SABBATH  COMMENTARY. 

A  Scriptural  Exegesis  of  all  the  passages  in  the  Bible  that  relate, 
or  are  supposed  to  relate,  in  any  way  to  the  "Sabbath  Doc- 
trine." By  the  late  Rev.  James  Bailey,  pp.  216.     Price,  60  cents. 

This  is  by  far  the  most  valuable  vSabbath  Commentary  ever  pub- 
lished. It  is  exhaustive,  critical,  temperate,  just  and  scholarly. 
Every  student  of  the  vSabbath  question  should  have  this  book. 

BIBLICAIv  TEACHINGS  CONCERNING  THE  SABBATH  AND 
THE  SUNDAY,  with  two  important  appendicies  upon  "The 
Origin  and  Identity  of  the  Week."  Second  edition  revised.  By 
Abram  Herbert  L,ewis,  D.  D.     pp.  146.     Price,  60  centfc. 

A  CRITICAI,  HISTORY  OF  THE  SABBATH  AND  THE  SUNDAY 
IN  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH."  By  Abram  Herbert  Lewis, 
D.  D.     pp.  viii.-583.     Price,  $1  25. 

A  CRITICAL  HISTORY  OF  SUNDAY  LEGISLATION,  FROM  A.  D. 
321,  TO  1888."  By  Abram  Herbert  Lewis,  D.  D.  pp.  X.-279.  Price, 
$1  25.    Published  by  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

PAGANISM  SURVIVING  IN  CHRISTIANITY."  By  Abram  Herbert 
Lewis,  D.  D.,  large  lamo,  pp.  XV.-309,  gilt  top,  $1  75.  Published  by 
Geo.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York  and  London. 

SWIFT  DECADENCE  OF  SUNDAY  ;  WHAT  NEXT  ? 

Second  Edition.  By  Abram  Herbert  Lewis,  D.  D.  pp.  vi.-v.-223. 
Price,  $1  00. 

This,  the  latest  book  from  Dr.  Lewis'  pen,  is  brim  full  of  facts 
which  appeal  to  all  classes  of  men,  but  particularly  to  Chris- 
tians, both  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic.  It  covers  a  field 
untouched  before  by  any  book  on  the  Sabbath  question. 


Any  of  the  above  named  books  sent,  post-paid,  on   receipt  of  price. 


